Alcatraz
by Cadnobach
Summary: When a security breach is suspected in a new high security prison the seaQuest crew are sent undercover. Lucas centric but all the cast are there. 1st season. ELF. Please R and R. WIP.
1. Chapter 1

General disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone I write about. No breach of copyright is intended.

I know I should really finish my other ongoing story before I start another one but I couldn't resist. I plan to write them along side each other, but just so no-one gets confused the characters relationships etc are not the same in each story.

* * *

**Chapter 1.**

'If you'd had the good sense not to crash a multi-billion dollar boat I wouldn't need to find a temporary assignment for your crew,' the Admiral reminded Bridger.

'Their sub crashed into us – we didn't have a chance!' Bridger protested.

'Nevertheless, I can't have you all sitting around doing nothing while the repairs are being made.'

'And this is the only job you could find for us?' the Captain demanded.

'I thought it would be perfect for your senior bridge crew. Think of it as a team building exercise – it will get them to think outside the box.'

'Noyce, I have enough trouble getting them to remember that there even is a box,' Bridger paced up and down his quarters looking none to pleased.

Over the vid–link Bridger saw Admiral Noyce check his watch and knew that he had tried his old friend's patience for too long.

Noyce brought out his ace. 'Wolenczak has already been assigned to the mission. I spoke to his father this morning.'

'You actually spoke to his father?' Bridger asked sceptically.

'Well, I spoke to his secretary at least. She confirmed that Dr Wolenczak had no objection to his son taking part.'

'I have huge problems with Lucas being anywhere near that place,' the Captain said, reminding himself that he was talking to an admiral and that he had to keep his tone just the right side of polite.

'When it comes to his son, Dr. Wolenczak does out-rank you, Captain,' Noyce reminded him, 'of course, if you are determined for the rest of your crew to go elsewhere, I won't try to stop you.'

Bridger said nothing for several moments, knowing that the Admiral had won. There was no way Lucas was going into that place alone. Then he sighed, 'I won't order them to go – if they want to be assigned elsewhere it's their choice.'

Noyce smiled. 'I'm sure you can depend upon them to make the right decisions.'

Bridger switched off the transmission before he said something he would regret. He ran a tired hand over his eyes. 'I'm getting too old for this,' he muttered to himself.

The knock on the door brought him back to reality far sooner than he would have wished. 'Come in,' he called, forcing himself to sound calm and in control.

In spite of the Captain's best efforts Commander Ford could feel the tension in the Captain's quarters as soon as he opened the door.

'The repair teams from the base are on standby ready to start work as soon as we reach port, and Commander Hitchcock has briefed them and the engineering crew here, so everything should run smoothly,' he reported.

Bridger nodded. 'Is there anything else to report?' he asked before dismissing his XO.

'There have been a lot of rumours on the boat about what will happen to the crew while the boat is being repaired.'

'What sort of rumours?' Bridger asked.

'That the repairs are going to take too long and that the crew is going to be broken up and assigned to other boats,' Ford said carefully impassive.

'Are the rumours a problem?' Bridger asked twisting his neck one way and another trying to ease the tension out of it.

'There are always people who will believe them, especially when there's no alternative information coming down the chain of command.'

Bridger sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. 'Then you can tell them that the crew is not going to be broken up. Everyone except the senior bridge crew are going ashore to catch up on whatever training days they haven't taken yet, then they are on shore leave until the command can think of something to do with them or the repairs are finished whichever happens first.'

'Yes, sir.' When the Captain seemed inclined to leave it at that he prompted, 'Are there any orders for the senior bridge crew sir?'

'I want to see them all in the briefing room fifteen minutes after we dock, that includes Dr. Westphalen and Lucas, Commander.'

'Yes, sir.' The Commander closed the door behind him and wondered just how a child and a civilian had suddenly become senior members of the senior crew. However, orders were orders and Ford was used to obeying them.

* * *

'Maybe we're going on shore leave?' Ben suggested. 

'I can just see the UEO letting us chill out on the beach for the next eight weeks,' Tim O'Neill said sarcastically.

'It could happen!' Ben protested.

'More likely they'll dump us into shore based jobs,' Miguel said, as he pulled up another chair at the table in the briefing room, 'how do you feel about spending the next eight weeks in the quarter master's store?' he asked Ben.

'They wouldn't do that,' Chein objected, 'they know he'd have sold it all before the repairs were even started.

One person sitting at the table was quiet and it didn't take his friends long to notice. 'What do you think, Lucas?' Tim asked the teenager.

'I'm sure they'll find a computer problem somewhere,' he said with a shrug of his shoulders that was just a fraction too nonchalant to be believable.

'You could always take some time out and visit your folks, it's not as if the UEO can order you not to,' Shan suggested.

Lucas shrugged again and went back to staring at the grain in the table top.

The men lost interest in the teenager's reaction as the others filed in one by one, the Captain being the last to arrive. He waited until everyone was sitting before he begun.

'I know there have been a lot of rumours flying about regarding assignments when the boat is being repaired,' he told them, 'the rest of the crew are going to catch up on their training and then will be on leave until the UEO finds a temporary assignment. The crew is not going to be broken up.'

Some of the tension drained out of the room at the announcement that they would all be coming back to the seaQuest. If everyone hadn't been giving the Captain their full attention they may have noticed the relief in Lucas's expression before he managed to hide it as quickly as it came.

'However,' the Captain went on, 'there is a specific assignment that the UEO is offering everyone here. Before I give you any details I want to make it perfectly clear that this assignment is voluntary – no one goes unless they want to. Everyone is more than welcome to go ashore with the rest of the crew.'

No-one said anything and after a quick glance around the room the Captain noted that he had succeeded in gaining everyone's complete attention.

'Has anyone heard of the ASPC?' he asked.

'The new prison?' Ford asked, 'I think we've all heard about it. It opened up a few months ago. Everything else about it is classified.'

As one, everyone turned to look at Lucas, who pretended not to notice. He looked just a little bit too innocent for the Captain's taste.

'Do you have anything to share, Lucas?' the Captain asked, knowing that he should have expected something like this.

Lucas sighed. 'It's the highest security prison there is,' he told them, 'housing the 264 prisoners who are considered to be the greatest threat to the public. They are calling it the new Alcatraz – supposedly impossible to break out from.'

'Supposedly?' Ford asked.

Lucas shrugged again, 'there's no such thing as an entirely secure facility.'

'Do I want to know how you know so much about this place?' Bridger asked, 'or will I regret it if I find out?'

Lucas smiled a little for the first time since he had heard the rumours about the crew being broken up. 'You probably don't want to know.'

'Is there some reason we need to know about this… Alcatraz place?' Kristen asked, shooting a dark look at Lucas that implied he was in for another lecture about how his talents should be applied.

'If anyone chooses to take up the assignment that is where you will be going,' he announced.

'In what capacity?' Ford asked all professionalism.

'It seems that Lucas isn't the only one who has doubts about its unbreakable security,' Bridger told them, 'the UEO wants to send a group in to test it.'

'Test it how exactly?' Chief Crocker spoke up for the first time.

'In various ways,' Bridger hedged before deciding that it would be best to get it all over with as soon as possible, 'including some members of the team going undercover in the prison population and trying to break out.'

'Going undercover with the 264 most dangerous prisoners?' Westphalen asked.

Bridger nodded. 'That's the idea, so I'm sure you'll understand why I'm not making this assignment anything other than voluntary.'

'You want people to volunteer to go into a population of murders, terrorists and God only knows what else?' Kristen asked her disbelief clear in her tone.

Bridger sighed, 'Yes.'

Ford cleared his throat, 'Excuse me sir, but it's obvious that not all of us would be able to get into the prison population.'

Bridger stayed silent, allowing his XO to continue.

'I believe it's an all male prison complex. Dr. Westphalen and Commander Hitchcock wouldn't really blend in,' he pointed out.

'They would enter the prison complex as a Medical officer and a guard respectively,' Bridger told them, 'There aren't currently any female personal in the complex but there is no actual rule against it. The Admiral also believes that neither Crocker or myself would fit in, so we would be a delegation to the prison seeing what we can learn from their security procedures and how they might be used to make seaQuest more secure.'

'So,' Commander Ford looked around the table, 'there would be five of us going undercover?'

'Six.'

The Commander counted again. 'Six?'

Bridger closed his eyes for a moment hoping everything would go away before he opened them again. But a second later when he opened his eyes everyone was still there still waiting for an answer.

'Lucas would also be eligible to go undercover – if he chooses to accept the assignment.' Bridger silently prayed that the boy would say no. That was all Bridger would need. If the boy refused they couldn't expect anyone to make him go.

Everyone started talking at once - everyone except Lucas, who just stared straight ahead as if it were the most natural suggestion in the world. It was almost as if he had been expecting this from the moment the prison was mentioned.

'You cannot be serious, Nathan,' Kristen said.

'It's not my call, this came down from the Admiral,' he told them, trying to make himself heard over everyone's protests.

'Surely if you can't stop them then at least the boy's father has something to say in the matter?' Kristen protested. She knew that they didn't really keep in touch, but no parent would send their child into a top security prison just like that.

'Dr. Wolenczak has given his permission,' the Captain said, he watched Lucas for any reaction, but the boy remained impassive, 'if you don't want to go, you don't have to,' he added trying to keep the hope out of his voice.

Lucas shrugged. He knew what his father's permission meant. He was going if he wanted to or not. No point fighting it – he would only end up explaining that his father just wanted him to go anywhere as long as it was out of the way. 'I'll go,' he said.

'Lucas, have you thought about this?' the doctor asked him, reaching out to touch him on the arm.

'What's there to think about?' he said moving his arm away from her touch. He met the captain's eye and Bridger saw some of what was written there. The decision had been made there was no way he could convince the boy not to go now.

Bridger sighed yet again. 'Anyone else volunteering?'

The men who would be going into the prison population exchanged glances. The same thought was on all of their minds. Commander Ford looked around the table and saw the acceptance in all of their eyes. If Lucas was going, they were all going – and not only because the thought of Lucas being in there on his own made their stomach's turn, who could turn down a mission after a child accepted it like it was no big deal. 'We'll go.'

Katie Hitchcock nodded her consent too. 'You'll need as many of the guards on your side as possible.'

'And someone to patch you up afterwards, no doubt,' Westphalen muttered darkly, but she nodded herself into the mission too.

'Looks like we're all going,' Crocker told the Captain.

'Yes,' Bridger agreed, 'yes, it does.'

To be continued…

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Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Please review. I'll post up more as soon as I have time. 


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter. I hope the rest of it can live up to expectations. As always I don't own anyone or anything that I write about. There are as few errors as possible but any I have made are my own since I don't use a beta.

I have no problem with people pointing out mistakes like this. The Chein spelling was a mistake I made when I was taking the name from the internet movie database (it was the name of another character that appeared in the first episode). The correct spelling (same source) is actually Shan, which I'll use from now on.

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**Chapter 2.**

'How long do we have to prepare for the mission?' Ford asked.

'That was the bit I haven't mentioned yet,' Bridger said, 'the Admiral wants you to go in blind.'

'Blind?'

'As if you were just arrested and had no idea what would happen next,' Bridger confirmed, 'those who are going undercover at least.' He looked at the faces around the table. 'Are there any other questions?'

'You said it's all voluntary - what if someone changes their mind after the mission has started?' Kristen asked.

'Then they go to you. As the medical officer you should be the easiest contact for anyone in the prison population to reach. If anyone tells you they want out at any point I will get them out,' the sincerity in his voice left them in no doubt that he would move hell, high water or anything else that got in the way of that particular promise.

'You will or the UEO will?' Ford asked.

'Commander?' Bridger queried.

'Is this what the UEO is saying or what you are saying? On this type of mission once you're in you're usually in until the mission is completed.'

'I will get you out, and there will be no come back from the UEO. There will be no black marks on anyone's record from this mission.'

Ford nodded, he liked to be clear just how much trouble his permanent file was in on all occasions.

'When you said no time for research,' Ben queried, 'what exactly did you have in mind?'

Bridger looked at his watch. 'You have just over two hours before you need to be in the brig ready to be collected. You can get in touch with whoever you need to, let them know you won't be in contact for a while, but no-one is to be told what mission you are going on. Those who want to make contact with anyone will have to use the vid-link from this room since most of the ships communications system is already shut down ready for the repairs. The only person outside this room who will know any details of the mission is Admiral Noyce.'

'The Commander in charge of the prison doesn't know we'll be there?' Crocker asked.

Bridger shook his head. 'We want to find out what the security is really like. This drill has to be as realistic as possible. That's why the rest of us will be posing as guards and visitors – we'll be the only back up you have.'

As the others went to make their calls on the vid-phone Captain Bridger found himself cornered by Dr. Westphalen. 'Well, do you intend to tell me what your plan is, Nathan?'

'Plan?'

'You don't seriously expect me to believe that you are going to let this idiotic mission go ahead, much less with Lucas involved?' Kristen asked him.

Bridger was silent for a few moments before he confessed, 'I can't think of a way to get him out of it. If you can come up with any ideas you're more than welcome to put them to Noyce yourself.'

'I'd like to do that – I have quite a few things to say to him,' Kristen said, ominously.

'The vid-link is still working in my quarters; I suggest we call him from there.'

Before they could leave Tim approached them 'Captain? You said that there would be no research for the sake of realism?'

'Correct, lieutenant' Bridger confirmed.

'But I'm sure that people are not generally taken straight to the prison as soon as they are arrested, wouldn't there have to be a trial and things first? Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that anyone who thought they might end up in this Alcatraz place would do their best to find out what it was going to be like?'

'Your probably right lieutenant, but perhaps the Admiral doesn't think every set of criminals would find it as easy as you all would to find out what you want to know.' Bridger said, trying not to make it sound like he was only talking about Lucas.

'Exactly, you can't expect them to believe that criminals have brain cells,' Lucas put in, the conversation catching his attention and dragging him away from his examination of the desk surface.

'Criminals wouldn't have access to the pass codes we have,' Chief Crocker added.

Lucas shrugged. 'Pass codes just make things quicker. There's no such thing as a secure data base either.'

'Lucas,' the Captain warned.

Lucas looked at Bridger, his eyes bare of any emotion. 'But if I'm a criminal that would be a realistic use of my talents, the Admiral can't have it both ways – it's either realistic or it's not.'

Before the situation could escalate, Ben asked something that had not until that point occurred to anyone else in the room, 'What are we accused of?'

'What?'

'Well if we're going to be sent to this prison it has to be something serious. What did we do?'

'Shall I look it up?' Lucas suggested he knew there was no reason to keep pushing the Captain – that it wasn't even Bridger's fault that he was on this assignment but the idea of the prison was growing more and more real in his mind by the moment and not being able to get the information that would help wasn't making him feel any calmer.

Tim saw the expression on the Captain's face and knew how hard this was on the Captain's temper. 'Why don't you take your turn on the vid-phone next?' he suggested.

'Thanks, Tim, but I think I'll skip it. My father's secretary already knows where I'm going.'

No-one knew quite what to say about that and as most of the others left the room to make what preparations they considered necessary Lucas stayed at the table ignoring everyone. Ben came and sat next to him after a few minutes. 'You sure you don't want to tell Node 3 you'll be out of touch for a while?' he asked the teenager.

'They'll figure out that I'm working on something,' he said, not looking up.

'Your friends won't be worried?'

'No.' It was a flat statement. Ben tried to work out if there was some sort of emotion in the back ground but couldn't read his friend.

* * *

The Captain and the doctor made their way to Bridger's quarters. The boat was un-naturally silent with all the crew gone ashore and the repair teams all in a different section of the boat. The vid-link showed the UEO symbol, but as soon as Nathan had put the call though it was answered by Admiral Bill Noyce.

'Well, Captain. Do you have any volunteers?' he asked.

'Six in the prison population and the four as guards and visitors,' Bridger confirmed.

'And they will be going in blind?' Noyce checked.

'Correct' Bridger confirmed again.

'Admiral Noyce,' Kristen cut in, 'would you like to explain the reasoning behind sending a child into a dangerous prison?' she said sharply.

'It is not a dangerous situation, doctor-'

He wasn't allowed to finish. 'It contains over two hundred of the most dangerous criminals in the UEO! Do you expect me to believe they were sent to a maximum security prison at the bottom of the ocean for shop-lifting?' she demanded.

'This isn't like the old type of prisons. This is the most high-tech facility ever created. The inmates are monitored 24/7. There has never been a case of violence between the prisoners. You can forget all about the old films where prisoners spent their time making weapons out of bits of metal or doing drugs. Lucas will be safer there than he ever was on seaQuest,' he paused for breath, 'and I have Dr. Wolenczak's permission for Lucas to be there.'

'And he knows where Lucas is going? He knows what dangers he will be in?'

'I should say he knows better then anyone else could,' as soon as he had said the words it was clear from his expression that Noyce regretted them.

'Why would you say that?'

Noyce seemed to consider his options, finally he said, 'Dr Wolenczak was the one who designed the security system for the base.'

'He designed it? Next you will be telling us that it was his idea to send Lucas there?'

The hesitation was a fraction of a second too long. 'It was his idea?' the Captain said.

Noyce hesitated again, this time for several seconds. Bridger was an old friend after all. 'Off the record?'

They both nodded agreement. 'In a meeting regarding the prison last week concerns were brought up regarding the security system. A similar system in a land based prison complex, also designed by Dr. Wolenczak, was compromised and several prisoners broke out ten days ago.'

'And his answer is to send his son to this prison?'

'He knows that if the best of the UEO, which includes Lucas, can't break out of there then the board will no choice but to except that Alcatraz is secure – especially since it's thought that the other security system was only penetrated because there was a hacker involved.'

'So this whole thing is some sort of publicity stunt for Dr. Wolenczak?' Kristen demanded.

'Yes, no, I mean,' Noyce gave up, 'it doesn't matter what it is. Dr. Wolenczak has decided Lucas is going. We can't stop him from sending Lucas into the place – the best I can do for the boy is give you the chance to send some of your crew with him.'

'One more question,' Bridger said, when the Admiral would have cut the call.

'Who's idea was it that they should have tog o in blind?'

Noyce didn't answer. Bridger saw the look in his eyes. 'Thank you, Bill, that's all I needed to know.'

* * *

Kristen and Bridger arrived back in the ward room a few minutes later. The seat in front of the vid-phone was empty.

'Lucas?' Bridger said.

Lucas looked up from the desk.

'It's your turn on the vid-phone.'

'Thanks Captain,' the sarcasm dripped off the words, 'but there's no-one I really want to talk to.'

'Never mind,' the Captain said, with forced cheerfulness, 'I'm sure you can manage to find something to do with your time on the inter-nex.'

The crew all looked at him, Bridger glanced around at the faces around the room, 'the Admiral can't expect me to eves-drop on everyone's calls just to make sure they are doing what I told them to,' he said, 'there are privacy issues to consider.'

As he went to leave the room again, he whispered to Kristen 'if Dr. Wolenczak wants Lucas to test the system, let's make sure he has the chance to do it properly.'

The rest of the crew looked to Dr. Westphalen for answers. She didn't have any to give and followed Bridger out of the room.

A few minutes later several of the crew were standing around the vid-phone that Lucas was using as a computer screen.

'Do you intend to tell us what you are doing, Lucas?' Commander Ford asked.

'No,' Lucas's attention was immediately drawn back into the computer and he seemed to consider that the end of the topic.

'Why not?' Ford prompted.

'Because I have,' he glanced at the time on the screen, 'less than an hour to crack into the system and find a weakness that can be exploited in some way to get us out of there. I don't have time to explain each step as I go along as well.'

'Are you sure you can get into the system?' Miguel asked.

'Yes.'

'Why are you so sure?' Ford prompted.

Lucas took a few seconds to think about something other than the system he was working on and he remembered that the Commander was not generally there when the Captain allowed him to hack into secure systems. 'I'm sure because I've never found a system that I can't get into,' he said simply.

'There's always a first time…' Tim said nervously.

'Maybe your right,' Lucas conceded just before a new window opened up on the screen, 'but it isn't going to be this time,' the teen smiled.

'I'll print some details out for you to go over,' he didn't add what was really on his mind – if I give you something to keep you busy you'll leave me alone to get this done.

To be continued…

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Hopefully this chapter explained a little bit more about why Noyce is willing to risk his men and why the Dr. didn't have a more extreme reaction in the first chapter.

I will try to update both this story and the other one I have up at some point next week if time allows. Please read and review – I have no problem with polite criticism.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Sorry this has taken so long to post up this next chapter, got distracted by the other on going story. Still don't own anyone or anything.

I am going to finish this story, can't guarantee when, but I will finish it. Updates should happen every fortnight or so from now on, if everything goes to plan.

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**Chapter 3.**

'It's impossible,' Ford looked up from the information that Lucas had printed out regarding the prison, 'Houdini couldn't have escaped from this place!'

'Try to look on the bright side, Commander,' Krieg said.

'It's at the bottom of a trench thousands of miles from the nearest land. The pressure outside it would kill anyone instantly and crush a normal launch in seconds,' he picked up one of the pieces of paper and pushed it across the table to Ben. 'Read the numbers for yourself. There is no way to get out of there without being on board one of the supply launches, and there's not another one of them scheduled for another twelve weeks. Do you want to spend the next three months down there without any chance of even attempting to escape, lieutenant? There is no bright side.'

Lucas blocked the conversation out and concentrated on the computer screen. It had worked, printing off a few pages had given the rest of the men something to think about other than annoying him. They weren't making any progress, but he was. It helped that he was used to hacking into his father's computers and that he had some prior knowledge of where the weaknesses in his father's security systems usually were.

In theory it would work. The trouble was, Lucas thought, as his fingers flashed over the keyboard putting the final touches to the virus he was implanting, it was only a theory. The time to test theories wasn't when you were in a prison full of dangerous criminals. He would have liked to have tested the virus out first, but a quick glance at the time told him he wasn't going to get what he wanted. A back up plan would have been nice, but it seemed nice wasn't going to happen either.

There was only one more thing to do before time would run out and they had to go to the brig. It didn't take Lucas long to find the files and the changes only took a few seconds, but Lucas was pleased with the result. The expression that played around his lips may not have been a smile as such, but there was a certain amount of dark humour in it.

Lucas looked up as the door opened and the Captain and Dr. Westphalen re-entered. The teenager instinctively closed the windows on the screen as the other men picked up the papers and moved them out of the Captain's view. To Bridger, if not to the men themselves, the change was clear. He was now the enemy. Knowing it was just a temporary thing didn't make it any easier for the Captain to accept it.

As the men filed down to the brig Bridger couldn't do anything but watch them go. He tried to study Lucas for any change in the boy, but he was hard to read at the best of times and now all his defences were very firmly up.

Lucas would have been the last to leave, but Bridger held him back with one hand on his arm. 'You don't have to go,' he said.

'Yes, Captain, I do.'

'Why?' Bridger couldn't stop the question.

Lucas hesitated and saw Bridger hold his breath as he waited for the answer. The sarcastic response stuck in his throat. He couldn't meet the Captains eyes and his gaze dropped to the floor. 'Because,' Lucas forced himself to go on. He owed the Captain this much truth at least, 'Because if I do this, when it's all over my father will let me come back to seaQuest. If I refuse he'll take me off the seaQuest and dump me there anyway. Prison time will be easier if I at least know I can come home at the end.'

Bridger was so shocked he let Lucas leave without saying anything else to him. Home? Well, that was how he thought about seaQuest too, but, the way Lucas had said the word, as if it was the only real home he had ever known.

'Nathan Bridger, for the third time, are you listening to me?'

'What?' he looked up and saw Kristen staring at him.

'I said we need to go down to the launch bay, the launch from the prison will be here any minute.'

Bridger nodded and followed her out of the wardroom. All he could do now was hope that they would all be home safe very soon.

* * *

Lucas sat in the brig with the other men and shifted uncomfortably. They all looked up when Katie Hitchcock walked into the brig, carrying several sets of handcuffs.

'The launch from the prison is only a few minutes away, better put these on now. You want to look authentic when they get here,' she tossed the hand-cuffs to Ford.

Ford caught the hand-cuffs on instinct and looked at them unenthusiastically. 'Allow me, Jonathan,' Krieg said, taking them out of his hands. The look on Ford's face was quite eloquent. Ben smiled. 'You would hardly have me call a dangerous criminal by rank, would you Jonathan?'

Ford looked up to the heavens for patience. But, he know that even if he was undercover he still had some sort of responsibility to set an example to the others so he turned around and allowed Krieg to put the hand-cuffs on behind his back.

As Krieg went along the row of men, putting the hand-cuffs on, restraining their hands behind their backs, Tim noticed that the hand-cuffs were not the only thing Katie had brought into the room with her.

'Are those our records?' he asked.

Katie picked up the files, nodding. 'I just downloaded them, haven't had a chance to read them yet.'

'What are we accused of?' Ford asked, trying to move his shoulders into a comfortable position in spite of the weight of the heavy computerised locks on the hand-cuffs which pulled his hands down.

Katie opened the top file. 'It looks like they've gone for realism over imagination, you are members of the seaQuest crew who were caught in a plot to over-throw the UEO and hijack the seaQuest in an effort to hold a large part of the free world to ransom.'

'And you think that's realistic!' Ford demanded.

'Exactly, Katie,' Lucas said, all apparent seriousness, 'you don't really think they'd catch us do you?'

Ford shot Lucas an un-amused glare.

'Actually, it does make sense, when you think about it,' O'Neill said, and then suddenly found himself the centre of attention when everyone turned to look at him. 'The guards at the prison will be UEO officers, they can't risk any of us being recognised - it would blow our cover the moment we stepped inside the place. We have to be ourselves, accused of something we could, in theory, do.'

Katie nodded, as she flicked through the rest of the files. She looked up and into Lucas's eyes. 'It seems Lucas has some an extra charge added to his file. Three charges of Homicide. But there must be a mistake in here,'

'You don't say?' Miguel asked, 'Lucas couldn't kill anyone! Why wouldn't they just give him the same record as the rest of us?'

'That's not what I mean.' Katie explained - 'the dates they've put down for are all next month.'

'Maybe they're psychic,' Lucas suggested, with no surprise at all in his voice.

'Do you know anything about this, Lucas?'

'Me?' the teenager asked, all sudden innocent ignorance.

'Why would the UEO add these charges to your file?' Ford asked, reminding himself again and again that Lucas was only a child, that it wasn't right to expect military discipline from him, as always the reminders were only partially successful.

'I really couldn't say.'

'Did you add those charges to your sheet?' Ford asked again, as calmly as he could.

'But how could I, Commander? They'd be held in a secure file on the UEO main computer, that place would be harder to hack into than any prison system. Anyone who knows anything about computers would know that!'

'So,' Ford said slowly, 'feeling his way along the new idea as he spoke, 'if your father found out that someone had added new charges to the sheet he would know…'

Lucas said nothing, but the look in his eyes said quite enough.

'There goes any element of surprise,' Shan pointed out.

Lucas shook his head. 'We lost any element of surprise the moment they put down our entire service history in those files. When we walk in there the guards are going to know all of our strengths and weaknesses. Everything from the scores you all got at the academy to how old I was when started hacking. And, if I know my father, they'll be warned that we are some sort of escape risk.'

'So the changes to your files weren't intended as a warning to your father?' Ben asked.

'Not so much a warning. More of a declaration of war,' Lucas said with the same dark smile that had crossed his face earlier.

'So, to get his attention you tell him that you've killed three people?'

'Plan to kill. Future tense.'

'Definitely sounds like a declaration of war to me!' Miguel agreed.

'Why do I get the feeling that you didn't pick these names…' Ben hesitated, and Katie filled them in for him.

'McIntire, Lewis and Brawn,'

'Out of a telephone directory,' Ben took over with barely a break between the voices.

'I have no idea,' Lucas said, 'they could easily be random names.'

He was saved from any further questions as Hitchcock's pal sounded. When she answered they all heard the Captain announce that the party from the prison had docked and they were on they're way to the brig.

Ben Krieg snapped the last but one pair of hand-cuffs around Lucas's wrists, and paused to give the teenager a reassuring smile. Then he held up the last pair of hand-cuffs to Katie grinning knowingly as she quickly snapped them around his right wrist The message behind the grin he gave her hadn't failed to register. 'Not one word, Ben,' she warned.

'I didn't say anything!' he protested.

'You didn't need to, I can hear what you're thinking!' she hissed.

'That it's been a long time? I knew you were thinking the same!' Ben laughed as she closed the other cuff around his left hand a little more roughly than was strictly necessary. Katie had just enough time to close the electric field that acted like a cell door, locking them all inside, before the main hatch to the brig opened and the group from the prison arrived.

The security team consisted of three guards. They cast a glance at the men in the brig, but their gaze soon reverted back to Hitchcock. The first man who had walked in wore a Commanders rank and the air of someone who was used to being in charge. 'You're Hitchcock?' he didn't even bother to try to hide the disbelief in his voice.

'Commander,' Hitchcock greeted him with a salute.

He looked her slowly up and down, taking note of the shine on her shoes, the glass of her hair, and every curve in between. Only when he had looked his fill did he return the salute and say as you were. He passed no comment on what he saw, but gave the distinct impression of being more than happy with the view.

Lucas felt Ben change position next to him, but he wasn't the only one in the brig who had tensed at the man's reaction to Katie. The teenager couldn't help but wonder who would have been the first one to throw a punch if they hadn't been restrained by the hand-cuffs. Probably it would have been Ben, he decided, although even with his normal reserve Lucas didn't think Ford would have been far in second place.

The Commander's hands had curled into fists behind his back and the chain that connected the two cuffs was taught as the muscles in Fords arms pulled against the metal. Lucas found himself wondering just how friendly Katie and Ford were, there were rumours, the usual scuttlebutt, but no-one really knew. The teenager brought himself back to reality with a struggle – it would have been easier to stay inside his own head and wonder about things that had nothing to do with the men in front of him or the hand-cuffs behind him, but he knew reality wouldn't go away just because he ignored it.

The calmest person in the room seemed to be Katie herself, who showed no sign of noticing anything offensive about the situation. All professionalism she handed the files over to the new Commander. The man hadn't bothered to introduce himself. She glanced at the name tag he wore, Commander Stephens.

'They tried to take over the UEO?' he asked Hitchcock, flicking through the files just as she had minutes earlier.

'Yes, sir.'

'Six men against the UEO, and they thought they would win?'

'Apparently so, sir.'

'And one of them is supposed to be a genius? Some genius!'

He looked into the brig cell. 'Which one of you is Wol…' he hesitated.

'Wolenczak,' said Lucas, one day someone would get it right first time, but he wasn't going to hold his breath until it happened.

Commander Stephens didn't look up from the paper work. Taking a paperclip off the top of the page he threw it through the electric field. The field flashed blue as the metal passed through, throwing sparks towards the men inside. Miguel let out an involuntary yelp as one of the sparks earthed into his shoulder scorching the fabric of his uniform.

The paper clip, now a small ball of molten metal landed where Lucas would have been if he hadn't leapt to the side, pushing Tim into Commander Ford in his rush to be out of the way.

'Prisoners do not speak to guards unless specifically invited to do so,' Stephens declared, still not looking up from the page. Then he did raise his eyes and look at them coldly. 'Do you understand?'

His eyes had fixed on Lucas and, not knowing if he was allowed to give a verbal answer, Lucas just nodded. It appeared that he had made the right choice since nothing else was thrown at them.

When the man looked back at his paper Lucas, without raising his gaze high enough to meet any of their eyes, looked across the row of men. The main expression he saw was of shock. Ben's jaw had dropped and he hadn't closed it yet. Miguel was looking at his shoulder, trying to see if it was bleeding. Ford was almost vibrating with anger, but was managing to keep a check on it. Looking out through the field Lucas saw Katie Hitchcock had been caught off guard by the sudden move and hadn't had any time to try to stop the action, but she now stood taught ready to intervene if anything like that should happen again.

'You're supposed to be some sort of genius?' Stephens asked.

It was one of those awkward questions. The truthful answer was, of course, yes, but from experience Lucas knew that being truthful was just asking for trouble with some people. He said nothing.

Before the man could speak again Katie stepped in, trying to divert attention from Lucas. 'His IQ tests off the scale,' she said.

Stephens ignored her. 'And a genius thinks that six men can take over the entire UEO?' he said to Lucas.

Lucas clenched his jaw. He knew answering back would get him in more trouble than he could handle, that had never stopped him before, and now it was only the knowledge that a man like Stephens would spread that trouble around his friends that actually kept him quiet.

'No answer, boy?' Stephens challenged with a taunting laugh. 'Seems that high IQ doesn't do him a lot of good behind bars!' he said to Katie, handing the files back to her.

He turned and looked at the prisoners. 'So, are you going to be good little boys and go down to the launch, or do we get to have some fun first?' he took an electric baton from a clip on his belt, and charged it, holding it up so they could see the blue sparks crackle along the length of it. He laughed again and dropped the field that separated them. He motioned them out of the hatch with a wave of the baton.

Lucas and Ben were at the far end of the cell and were the last ones to leave. When Lucas would have stepped though the hatch into the corridor beyond Stephens dropped the baton down in front of him, stopping Lucas in his tracks and causing him to lean back from the baton - It was that or walk into twenty volts of pain.

Lucas didn't look up but kept his eyes locked on the ground a few steps beyond his feet.

'I don't care if you are some sort of genius, freak. You try anything, anything at all, and you'll find out exactly how hard life in prison can be. You belong to me now, and you will do as I say. Understand, freak?'

Lucas nodded.

The guard laughed and unblocked his way. Lucas followed the others along the corridor towards the launch bay, the guard had spoken quietly enough to stop anyone else hearing any of what he said to Lucas, and Lucas wondered, as he walked, if he should tell them the truth later when Ben and the others asked him what was said.

The all walked along the corridors in silence. Ford cast a glance over his shoulder once, knowing that Lucas had been held back and wanting to make sure that he was OK. A sharp blow along the side of his head from one of the guards who was walking next to him made sure he didn't try to look around again. The blow had stung, but at least that guard hadn't charged the baton, and Ford was pretty sure it hadn't broken the skin. The last thing he needed was to be losing blood all the way to the prison.

The launch was split into two compartments, as the prisoners walked in they could see Bridger, Crocker and Westphalen being led into the front section, the interior of it looked much like the launches seaQuest usually used. The rear section only connected to that part of the launch through a thick steal wire cable, so it was effectively just a container towed behind the launch.

Stephens waved the men into that part of the launch. The only furnishings, if they could be given such a comfortable title were thin bare metal benches along each wall. Apparently comfort hadn't been the prime consideration when it came to transporting the prisoners. As the last man cleared the hatch it was closed behind them. Then they discovered something else hadn't been considered necessary for the prisoners comfort.

Even at night there was always residual light on seaQuest, the ship worked twenty – four hours a day and the corridors and the aqua-tubes were constantly illuminated. The sudden darkness startled the men, leaving them all standing around disorientated in the unfamiliar space. With their hands still secured behind their backs it was impossible to reach out and get any sense of the space that they had only seen for a few seconds after they first entered.

'Does anyone else get the feeling this is going to be a fun trip?' Ben's joke didn't quite break the tension, but everyone laughed. They would have laughed at anything funny or not by that point, the noise echoed strangely against the bare metal walls.

'Lucas?'

'I'm still here,' the teenager said with more humour than he felt.

'What did that guard say to you?' Ford asked.

'Just not to cause any trouble, that's all.' It was more or less the truth.

Ford knew that they wouldn't get any better detail than that, not yet. 'We'd all better sit before we start-'

The launch left the seaQuest, jolting as it did so. None of the men were braced for the movement and they all ended up in a tangle of legs and bodies on the hard floor.

From the bottom of the pile Ford finished what he had started saying, '… before we start moving.'

It wasn't easy getting up in the dark unfamiliar space when you couldn't use your hands. The prisoner transport jolted and swayed behind the launch, buffeted by cross currents and jarred by the rough driving of whoever was piloting the launch.

The third time someone accidentally kicked him in the head Ford ordered everyone to just sit still for a moment and stop trying to stand up. 'What we are going to do,' he announced, 'is sit quietly on the floor until we get there, the benches don't look that comfortable in any case. Everyone just scoot across the floor and find something to lean your back against.'

Even without trying to stand up, it was a few minutes before they all had their backs to the benches and silence could once more descend.

'Is anyone hurt?' Ford asked, once everyone was as comfortable as they were going to get. 'Miguel?'

'My shoulder aches a bit, but that's all. What about your head?'

Ford instinctively went to reach a hand up to probe the swelling on the side of his head, forgetting his restraints, sighing he said, 'I'll live.'

They were silent again. 'Lucas? You OK?' Ford asked.

'Yea.'

'Have you met that guard before?' Miguel asked, 'he had a definite problem with you.'

Lucas shrugged and then remembered none of the men could see him in the dark. 'Never seen him before. Some people just don't like anyone smarter than them.'

'I doubt he likes many people in that case,' Ben said.

They all laughed again, because the very fact that they could still laugh lightened the mood.

'They can't hear us in here, can they?' Tim asked, a little bit nervously.

Lucas shook his head, but remembered to answer out loud too. 'I don't think they bothered to put any sort of electrics in the section.' He didn't add, that this ment no life support systems either, he'd been mentally working out the volumes and how much oxygen they would need, how long they could survive in there.

'How far is it to this Alcatraz place?' Shan asked, 'I don't fancy being stuck in this box all night.'

'It'll take less than six hours,' Lucas said.

'How do you know?' Miguel asked, curious.

'Maths,' was the only answer he gave and the other men didn't press him. They had more important matters on their minds. Ford decided it was time to ask the question that everyone wanted answered.

'Do you have a plan, Lucas?'

'Yes.'

'Do you intend to share it?' he prompted.

'To start with we just have to wait,' Lucas told them.

'Wait?' Ford asked, it wasn't the answer he had been hoping for, but he tried not to let the disappointment show in his voice, he might be a genius but the kid was only human. It wasn't realistic to expect the plan, whatever it was, to work, but if there wasn't any plan at all he'd like the know sooner rather than later.

'I made some adjustments to some of the computer programmes that run in the prison. All we can do is wait until they kick in.'

'And if they don't?' Shan asked.

'Then we're officially screwed.'

'Could you be just a little bit more specific?' Ford asked.

'I put a virus into the prison's system before we left, if no-one finds it and it kicks in then we have a chance. If someone can find it and deactivate it then the plan fails and we have as much chance of getting out of there as anyone else.'

'What does this virus do, exactly?' Tim asked.

As the others waited expectantly, Lucas hesitated. 'It's probably best if you don't know,' he said, 'there's nothing that can be done about it now, so it will only worry you.'

'And telling us that it will worry us isn't going to scare the hell out of us?' Ben asked.

'I need you to react as if you don't know what's going on, and the best way to do that is to make sure you don't know what's going on,' Lucas said calmly.

Ford was sitting on one side of him and Lucas heard the quiet sigh. Of course, he'd known from the start that the Commander wasn't going to like this, the man didn't like being out of the loop or out of control. But worrying them wasn't the only reason they had to be kept in the dark. If it all went wrong, Lucas wanted to be sure that no-one would be able to come back to the other men in the crew and say that they should have done something about it, that they should have stopped him, or called the mission off when they found out about his plan.

Lucas knew the risks he was taking, and he thought it was all worth it, but he couldn't put those risks on the other men, on his friends.

'So, what do we have to do? When we've finished waiting,' Miguel asked.

'When the time comes you'll have lots to keep you busy,' Lucas promised.

'And until then?'

'Until then you get to live with terrorists, murderers and psychopaths. I doubt you'll have time to get board!'

They all know what the teenager could be like when he got an idea in his head. The Spanish inquisition couldn't have got any more details out of him than he was willing to give up. As much as they all hated the idea they really were in his hands.

Everyone sat silently with their own thoughts as the launch swayed back and forth. It was about an hour later when they all heard the high pitched bleep of an alarm, followed by a spark of electricity that lit up the world for a second and disappeared before any of the men had a chance to make use of it.

The expletives, at first from shock, and then from the realisation that there were electronics in that part of the launch and the guards could have been listening to them, came thick, fast and in several languages. Ben and Ford made do with English but Miguel joined in with some colourful Spanish and Shan took advantage of Portuguese and Vietnamese. Tim O'Neill flitted from one language to another, making the best use of each one. The only one who said nothing was Lucas.

Ben was the first to notice that the teen, who had some quite inventive curses in his vocabulary when he chose to use them, was silent.

'Lucas?'

To be continued…

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If you're enjoying it so far, or if you are not enjoying it for that matter, please do drop in a review and let me know. And feed back is appreciated – positive or negative - it's justnice to know that there are people out there reading the story. Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed the previous chapters.

Cadi.


	4. Chapter 4

Hi :) Sorry it's late this time - couldn't get onto the site since Thursday. Once more thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing through the last few chapters. Diane, you asked what direction the story was going to go in. I never plan the detail of what happens and usually make it all up as I write it, but it's fair to say that there will be quite a bit of h/c and angst in the story.

I should also take this opportunity to mention that this story is more than likely going to deal with some very dark issues in future chapters. If the story disappears from the default story listing it's probably because I've had to put it up to an M rating and you need to look under that rating to find those stories. I won't go through a list of the things it will probably deal with because 1) I tend to change my mind a lot, and 2) it will ruin any suspense I mange to create if you know what's going to happen later in the story. If you don't like very dark issues it's probably best if you stop reading now.

As always I don't own the seaQuest or any of those who serve upon her. I suppose I could claim ownership of the guards and prisoners, but I'm not sure if I want them…

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**Chapter 4.**

'Lucas?' the question was repeated again, a slightly frantic undertone to the words.

'Um… I guess I should have warned you that that could happen?' Lucas said.

There was a collective sigh of relief as the other men started to breath again. 'What happened, and if you knew it was going to happen why didn't you warn us?' As carefully as Commander Ford controlled his voice it was clear that he was not impressed.

'It's a security feature,' Lucas said.

'A feature of what? I thought there were no electronics in the section of the launch.'

'There aren't any electronics. It was the handcuffs, an alarm goes off if you don't use the proper codes when you take them off.'

There were a few seconds of silence while the men took in this information, Tim cracked and asked first. 'You took your hand-cuffs off?'

'I wanted to make sure I could and…' his voice trailed off.

'And?' Ford prompted

'And I was board,' Lucas confessed.

Ben started the laughter and soon everyone including Lucas had joined in. The words had sounded so much more sensible inside his head.

'Aren't these the Mark IV's?' Shan asked as the laughter died away, thinking back to the cuffs they had in seaQuest security.

'That right, new in last week,' Ben confirmed, 'they've been on order from the security company for months.'

'I thought these were supposed to be 100 secure ones. The ones are impossible to get out of unless you have the key and the codes,' Shan said.

'Well, they weren't easy,' Lucas admitted, 'I've been working on them for the last hour or so. I could get out of the old ones in minutes.'

'And you would know this because…' Shan asked.

'I'm a genius,' Lucas hedged, 'I know lots of things.'

'Well, next time you do something like that, could you just warn us first?' Tim asked.

'If I'd told you all what I was doing, for the last hour you would all have been staring at me and asking me how it was going,' Lucas said, 'I did mean to stop when I was close to undoing them and warn you – guess I was closer than I thought I was.'

'Wait,' Shan said, recalling the training session that all of the security personal had been given when the cuffs came onboard, 'Isn't there some sort of timer on this model?'

'Yea, but I doubt the guards will bother to check them – what would be the point – they're impossible to take off,' Lucas said.

'If they do notice will they be suspicious?' Ford asked, trying to foresee any problems they could run into.

'Probably not,' Shan conceded, 'I would be, but only because it's Lucas and the locks are electronic and…' he hesitated.

'And there a note on my file saying not to use near any electronic security equipment around me,' Lucas finished for him.

'This would be the confidential UEO file that you don't have access to?' Ford asked.

'That's the one,' Lucas agreed.

'They could have the same note in the file the UEO sent Katie,' Tim pointed out.

'They don't. I checked.'

'That reminds me. Who are these men you're supposed to have murdered?' Ben asked.

There was a change in the motion of the launch ahead of them and then a jolt as the prisoner area was pulled into position and the hatch lined up.

'Couldn't have timed it better myself,' Lucas muttered under his breath.

Now that the launch was stable the men managed to get to their feet. There was the beep of an alarm as Lucas locked the cuffs back around his wrists and the usual bangs and curses that have to happen whenever six men all try not to knee each other in the head in total darkness. Then there was silence as they waited for the doors to open. Finally they heard the locks on the outside of the hatch initiate.

Several hours in the dark had not prepared them in any way for the harsh overhead lights in the prison complex.

The three guards, led by Commander Stephens, were waiting for them. There was no time to standing blinking in the lights, they couldn't even raise a hand to protect their eyes – not with all of their hands secured behind their backs. The guards herded them out of the launch and into a cell that stood on the far side of the room.

As their eyes slowly adjusted to the lights they were able to take in more details about the room. It was small and a wall divided it from the area where the front section of the launch would have joined the prison complex. Bridger, Crocker and Kristen must have been taken elsewhere when they arrived because the only member of the seaQuest party in the room was Katie Hitchcock. She stood near a desk on the wall adjacent to the cell.

When the cell was closed behind them the guards began to bark orders. One by one each man was told to stand with their back to a small hatch set into the cell door with their hands pushed through the hatch so their hand-cuffs could be removed. They all milled around inside the cell rubbing their wrists and trying to work some of the stiffness out of their shoulders.

A guard they hadn't seen before brought in a pile of uniforms a dropped them on the desk.

'Remove all your personal items and push them through the hatch,' Stephens ordered.

The seaQuest men hesitated. 'All clothing and anything you have in your pockets, anything that is not physically part of your body is to be removed and put through the hatch. No exceptions, I won't ask again.' As he said the last few words Stephens increased the charge on his baton.

The blue light along the metal sparked the men into action. As the top layers of clothes came off and were pushed through the hatch some of the men started to cast embarrassed glances at Katie, who still stood next to the desk.

'What happens to all their personal items?' she asked a guard who stood near the hatch to the launch, more to give herself an excuse to look at him rather than the men in the cell and spare her crewmates any embarrassment she could then because she was interested.

'Everything is burnt,' one of the other guards told her. But Stephens was watching the men and had worked out what she was doing.

'Now, there's no reason to be bashful, boys, I doubt you have anything she hasn't seen before.'

He was standing between her and the cell now and facing away from her, she looked towards him and over his shoulder saw Ben's expression, he caught his ex-wife's gaze and raised an expressive and very eloquent eyebrow.

Stephens saw the movement. 'Do you have anything to say, Kreig?' he demanded. Someone had obviously spent at least part of the journey to the prison reading through personal files.

Ben opened his mouth to answer but closed it wordlessly when Miguel nudged him a reminder of what happened last time one of them spoke to a guard. Ben contented himself with a shake of his head.

Stephens smiled very satisfied. At this rate he would have them well trained by the end of the day.

While one of the junior guards pushed the clothes the men had given up into a plastic garbage bag another dropped the prison uniforms through the hatch. They were standard doesn't-fit-anybody sizes but no-one felt inclined to complain. A few minutes later they were all wearing the same dark blue trousers and light blue shirts over white t-shirts.

Stephens looked at his watch. 'Dump them in the exercise yard,' he told the junior guards, 'the others will be out soon enough.'

One of the guards left the room, and a moment later opened the door on the far side of the cell. The batons were once again used to wave them in the right direction and the other two junior guards followed behind the newest prisoners.

The exercise yard was on the opposite side of the main cell block and the only way to access it was to walk between the rows of cells. Glancing from side to side the seaQuest crew could see the other inmates for the first time. The cell doors were made from the same electronic barriers as the seaQuest used on the brigs and through the blue ripples they could see the inmates stand up and move nearer to the force-fields to get a better look at the new comers.

They were about quarter of the way along the corridor between the cells when the cat-calls started. By the time they were half way along the walk most of the inmates were shouting and whistling. Although it was soon impossible to make out what any one man said the general gist of the message was very clear.

Under the cover of all the noise Tim O'Neill, walking next to Ben risked whispering, 'Katie is not going to be happy about all this.'

Ben cast a quick glance over his shoulder, 'Katie is still in the holding room, they're talking about us,' he whispered back, 'well, some of us anyway.'

One of the guards walked up along side them then and they both fell silent.

Ford, walking next to Lucas, tried to gage the teenager's reaction. Lucas was staring straight ahead at Ben's back and gave no sign of noticing the attention. The Commander, who had made out the wording of some of the first comments before they were lost in the wilderness of other calls, wondered if Lucas had heard them too. It was difficult to tell but Ford hoped he hadn't – the longer he was ignorant of the risks the better as far as Ford was concerned.

Shan and Miguel, bringing up the rear of the little procession, said nothing.

The exercise yard turned out to be a double height hall. A gantry ran along all the edge of the hall at first floor height. It looked like the exercise yards they'd seen in old prison movies. There was a basketball hoop against one wall, metal bleachers near another. There were markings on the floor for a few different sports. Unlike anything in the old prison movies though, the ceiling above them was slightly domed and as they walked in a skyscape of a summers sky complete with whisps of white cloud became visible above them.

The guards didn't follow them in. A tiny bit of the tension they all felt released when they were once more on their own. Miguel looked up at the ceiling, 'we are still underwater, right?'

'It's a computer programme,' Lucas said, 'it's called the skyline – designed to reduce the psychological strain of underwater colonies.'

'High spec for a prison,' Ben observed, 'I couldn't get anything like that supplied to seaQuest.'

'The design was flawed, too many side effects – they cause head aches things like that. Nothing serious but no-one wanted to pay millions just to have a permanent migraine. They probably wanted someone to dump it and re-coup a bit of their capital. A prison is as good a place as anywhere else.' There was a touch, just a touch, of nervousness to his tone. He spoke a little too quickly, his words huddling together as if they were afraid to be alone for too long.

They moved over to a group of tables that were set out against the wall adjacent to the bleachers. Ford surveyed the room – it was the closest to a defensible position there was. The chairs and tables were all bolted to the floor in a fixed pattern. There was nothing that could be used as a weapon, but there was nothing that anyone else could use as a weapon either. That had to even the scores a bit. And if they stood just at this point between the tables then there wasn't much room for anyone to try to surround them.

There didn't seem to be a lot to say. The same words kept repeating over and over in all their minds. "The others will be in there soon enough". Soon enough wasn't exactly precise but it was defiantly too soon for peace of mind.

Ford, who was still a Commander even if he was a convicted one, mentally ran through what resources he had at his disposal. That didn't take long. He had no recourses. What crew did he have then? Six including him. No, not really - Five at best.

Shan defiantly had some martial arts skills that could be very useful and Ford had to admit he'd pegged Ben as a good fighter, not as a fair fighter by any means but a good fighter none the less. Ford reckoned that Ben knew enough tricks to hold his own and wouldn't be afraid to use them and fight dirty if they were out numbered.

Then there were Miguel and Tim. Ford tried to remember how they had coped in the situations they had come across on seaQuest. Some snippet of conversation in the back of his mind hinted at Miguel having boxed at the academy. Probably fights too fairly for his own good then. As for Tim, at the very least he'd have the basic training in unarmed combat that they all had when they went through basic training, anything after that would be a bonus.

That left Lucas. Best keep Lucas at the back of the group as much as possible, Ford decided, sarcasm and computer skills probably won't be called on for in this sort of fight.

Whatever tension had left the group when they were on their own returned ten fold when the heard the sound of too many pairs of footsteps outside the door to the exercise yard. They all turned to face the door and Ben and Ford both tried to position themselves between Lucas and the men who would be coming through it.

As the door opened it was like a wall of noise pushed into the silent hall ahead of the inmates. Then they heard Tim mutter a quick prayer under his breath. They all silently seconded Tim. Even Ben didn't try to make a joke of this situation – there would be enough time for jokes if they survived the first fight.

Seconds later men were flooding into the hall. Each man who came through the door scanned quickly the room until their stare settled on the seaQuest men. And, for now, they seemed intent to leave it at that. While most of the men approached the group none came very close. Gradually a half circle of formed a short distance from them like an audience.

The audience talked among themselves. Some would point as they spoke. Occasionally a joke was made, to judge from the laughter at least, because among the hum of voices it was impossible to make out the words from where the seaQuest group stood.

At first Ford and Ben had tried to block Lucas from the stares but as the circle approach half full it became impossible. The seaQuest men became a tiny half circle of their own with Lucas at the back and the other men facing out to the audience. They had moved instinctively with no word or look of command or co-ordination. The only person who didn't seem entirely happy with this situation was Lucas.

From behind Ford's shoulder he said, 'I want you to promise me something, Commander.'

Ford tried to keep as many of the men in front of him as possible in his field of vision, 'I'll do my best, Lucas,' he said, not wanting to make the boy any promise that he might not be able to keep.

'Promise me that when it starts you'll all get out of the way,' Lucas asked.

'What are you talking about, Lucas?' Ford said, some of his attention leaving the other prisoners for a moment.

'When the fighting starts get everyone out of the way. Standing in front of me won't help in the long run. There's too many of them and you'll only end up making them even more angry. Just get out of the way and wait it out.'

'Lucas, do you have any idea…?' Ben began.

'It won't be the first beating I've lived through,' Lucas said, 'and the guards up there will probably stop them if it turns into anything worse than that.' There was a tiny tremor in his voice as he said it, but no hesitation to the words or the sentiment.

'You think we're going to just stand around and watch them beat you?' Miguel asked.

'Better then them beating us all down.'

'What makes you think they'll leave us out of it?' Tim said.

'Because at the moment I'm the most interesting target,' Lucas said simply, 'they'll get around to you soon enough. Make the most of it until they do.'

No-one answered or made any promises. Before Lucas could demand one from them the audience started to look over its shoulders. A clear path opened up in the centre to let an inmate through to the front. All the seaQuest crew, even Lucas, had enough experience of the military to recognise an air of command when they saw it. Bridger adopted it when he was in a military turn of mind and Dr. Westphalen could too when she was in medial rather than oceanographic doctor mode. When neither of them was around every one except the commander himself could recognise that same air about Ford.

The second thing Ford thought was that the other man was probably military too, or at least used to commanding a good number of men. But the first thing he thought was – this man's a threat. The deference the other inmates had shown him when they cleared the path was enough proof that sensible men were scared of him for some reason.

Ford held his position and kept his eyes on the man's face watching for any indication of what he was going to do. The possibility that the inmates had been waiting for his arrival before they approached was in the forefront of his mind and he was tensed to expect anything.

Ben took the opportunity to try to get some sort of read on the man. He was Latino, taller than the supply officer and broader across the shoulders. Ben couldn't help thinking that he was not the sort of man you want to fight in less you have to. And it wasn't just the size and the air of command about him; he stood like a serious bar fighter. All nice and relaxed and ready for someone to throw the first punch or break the first bottle against the bar, completely secure in the knowledge that he wouldn't be the one bleeding on the floor at the end of the night. He had the kind of confidence that only comes from winning a lot of fights, Ben thought. Ben wished like hell that he could stop thinking.

For what seemed like an age the man stood at the front of the audience and considered the seaQuest crew. He looked between Ben and Ford's shoulders, taking in every visible detail of Lucas – which wasn't much beyond blond hair and his face considering his height compared to the men in front of him.

It was impossible for any of the men to completely block Lucas out of the view without being obvious about it and drawing even more attention to the boy – as if that were even possible. The man, who had been standing very still until that point, shifted his posture slightly and the instinctive movements of Ford and Ben in response caused a smile to flit across his face. Then he looked up to a guard on the platform above them and nodded.

Whatever the signal ment it created an immediate response among the inmates. About half the prisoners moved quickly to the bleachers. There was a guard standing on the platform just above it and the prisoners were all looking up at him. To some extent the voices of the men who remained in the seaQuest's audience made it impossible to know what the other group were saying. But, Ford predicted that it couldn't be anything good. The man who had given the nod to the guard turned his back on the seaQuest men and walked over to the other side of the room and took a post leaning against the wall opposite the bleachers with a good view of the guard the prisoners were all talking to.

Through the babble of voices numbers filtered through to Ford and the others.

'What's going on?' Tim asked.

No-one answered, no-one had any answer to give him. Finally Shan spoke up. 'I'll go and find out?' he said.

Ford's instinct was to keep the group together; there were few enough of them already. But information was essential too and if anyone had to go Shan was probably in the best position to defend himself until the others could reach him. After only a slight hesitation Ford nodded. He wanted to tell him not to take any un-necessary risks but it seemed like a stupid thing to say under these circumstances.

The thinned out audience now failed to reach the edges of the half circle and although many of the inmates tracked Shan's progress with their eyes no one made any move to stop him leaving the group.

All the others could do was wait and watch as Shan walked up to the back of the group by the bleachers. He listened for less than a minute before he made his way back to the others, again none of the inmates made any attempt to stop him.

'Report, Mr. Shan?' Ford asked as he heard Shan slip back into the place he had left less than three minutes earlier.

'It's an auction.'

Ford forced himself not to allow his expression to alter. He was still facing out to the inmates, it wouldn't do to let them see his horror. Although he was pretty sure he knew the answer already Ford also knew that he still had to ask the question. 'What are they bidding on?' he asked, flatly.

Shan hesitated for several long seconds before he could bring himself to answer. When he finally spoke it was only one word.

'Lucas.'

To be continued…

* * *

And that's it until the next time. Let me know what you think. Any and all comments welcome. I don't mind constructive criticisms. If you like anything in particular I'll try to do more of it. If you see something I'm doing badly I'll try to do better at it. If you don't tell me I don't know. Please review.

Cadi.


	5. Chapter 5

A little bit later but a lot longer than usual too so it probably balances out somewhere along the line.

All mistakes are my own all the characters are someone else's.

Big thanks go out to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 5.**

'It's a very impressive facility,' Captain Braider said, as he followed Commander Stephens along between the empty cells.

'It's the best there is,' Stephens agreed.

'Is it true there has never been a case of violence between the prisoners?' Dr. Westphalen asked, glancing into the cells they passed.

'It is, ma'am. We keep a very close eye on everything that goes on between the prisoners. You shouldn't be kept too busy.'

'As I understand it, if an inmate requests to see a doctor – that request is always granted,' Kristen said.

Commander Stephens nodded and smiled down at her. 'There may well be a rush when they find out that we have a new beautiful lady doctor on our staff.'

He caught the look Bridger sent him and hurriedly went back to his tour, pointing out the next item of interest on the little tour he was taking Bridger, Crocker, Katie and Kristen on.

'Through there is the exercise hall, that's where all the in-mates are now. All state of the art – complete with a sky-line computer simulation designed to reduce the stress of being away from natural light for long periods of time.'

There was a clear partition in the wall between the cell block and the exercise hall. Looking through it Bridger could see a group of inmates all looking up to a guard standing on the platform above them and apparently saying something to him, but no sound escaped from the hall and it was impossible to know what they were talking to the guard about. Stephens glanced in – 'we always encourage the inmates to communicate with the guards, we want them to see us as here to help them not just to guard them.'

Bridger nodded. It certainly didn't seem like the idea he had of prisons. He stayed at the partition for several moments hoping to catch sight of some of his crew, but finally had to follow the others. Westphalen glanced questioningly at him as he left the window, but he shook his head.

Katie, keeping to the back of the little procession, fought hard to keep hold of her tongue and not ask Stephens if he thought electrocuting people was really a way to encourage free communication.

Stephens led the way from the inmates areas of the prison and into the guards area, through a small secure room that joined the two sections of the prison complex together. Commander Stephens inputted a series of codes to open the first door. Once they were inside the room he waited until the door they had entered through was closed before going to a panel on the opposite door and entering another series of codes. 'One of our basic safety precautions,' he explained, 'you can't open one door until the other is secure. If there ever were a problem in the inmates area it would be impossible for them to gain access to the guards areas.'

'How regularly are the codes changed?' Bridger asked, reminding himself that he was supposed to be there to learn from their security system.

'There's no set pattern, every so often a message comes through and we all have to change the codes – each guard uses their own unique set of codes, yours will be issued before you go on your first shift,' he added to Katie, 'as guests at the facility the rest of you will have to be escorted where-ever you want to go, likewise medical personnel only go into the main complex escorted by a guard.'

They all nodded, each of them unable to take their eyes off the electronic security system. How long would an electronic lock like that keep Lucas out? Minutes? The Captain felt a lot better just for seeing that every single bit of security in the place was computer based – at least they would have some sort of chance.

A few minutes later and they were all sitting in the guards resting room – two clear partitions in adjacent walls looked over both the small room that led to the inmates area of the complex and over the cell block itself. Both were empty. With Stephens still in the room Bridger felt that he should at least make some attempt at conversation, but there was only one topic he could keep his mind on.

'Have any of the inmates ever tried to escape?' he asked, in what he hoped was a casual tone.

'No, sir, there wouldn't be much point. This facility is 100 secure – there is no way to break out. The inmates know that – they have more sense than to try.'

Bridger took this information in but didn't feel any better for it. There were a lot of virtues he associated with Lucas but, while the boy was a genius, he had no more actual sense than any other teenage boy. Ford, now, Ford had sense. Keep telling yourself that, Bridger thought, Ford has enough sense to keep the rest of them out of too much trouble.

* * *

'Right, here's what we are going to do,' Ford announced, he looked up at the guard on the platform – no help there, 'the first chance anyone gets, we contact the doctor and we abort the mission.'

'And how to we intend to contact the doctor?' Miguel asked.

'On the million to one chance that someone in here doesn't start a fight with us, we start one ourselves and then one of us request medical attention,' Ford told them.

'Your plan is for us to get beaten up?' Ben asked.

'Yes.'

'And then for whoever gets beaten up the worse to go and explain this all to Dr. Westphalen?' It was difficult to see which part of the plan Ben objected to the most.

'Right,' Ford confirmed.

'What if they say we can't see the doctor anyway?' Tim asked.

'The rules regarding the treatment of prisoners are very clear…' Ford trailed off as he glanced back up at the guard taking the bids.

'There's probably a law against auctioning off inmates too, I don't think the guards are very concerned with rules,' Ben said.

'You have a better plan, Kreig?'

'Actually, yes I do. Before we left seaQuest I put in a few calls to some people I know. They have large amounts of money on stand-by to transfer to whoever I say.'

'You thought something like this would happen?' Miguel asked the horror clear in his voice.

'I was thinking more along the lines of being able to bribe people to help us escape,' Ben confessed.

'Just how much money are we talking about, here?' Ford asked.

'As much as we need – although just how I'm going to phrase Lucas on my UEO expenses form is something I may need to work on.'

'I have a feeling Bridger will pay you back himself if the UEO won't,' Ford said then hurriedly changed topics as Bridger's reaction to Lucas being in this position at all flashed across his mind, 'I'll do the bidding.'

Ben nodded knowing that the Commander wanted to keep Lucas as safe as, and therefore as close as possible to himself.

'In case everyone's forgotten, I am still here. Don't I get a say in this? I just might have some vested interests here,' it came out sounding more nervous and less sarcastic than the teenager would have liked, but he still felt better for having said something.

'Speaking as the person that Bridger and the doctor would inevitably blame if anything happened to you, I think I'm still in more danger than you are, kid,' Ben said the cheerfulness in his tone just a touch to brittle to be real.

As jokes go it wasn't great or in good taste but somehow Lucas felt the desperate urge to laugh and, just for a moment, to pretend that this was one of Ben's crazy ideas and all they had to worry about was Bridger or Westphalen catching them. He held the laughter back – pretending wasn't going to make reality go away this time.

Ford surveyed his options. There was no way he was going leave the group – if he went to the auction they were all going to the auction. There were only two ways to go – straight forward or try to scoot out around the side of their attentive audience. With half the prison population all still staring at them it didn't seem to be the time for subtlety.

The Commander walked straight forward towards the line of prisoners trusting his men to follow where he led. A few of the other prisoners looked over their shoulders and Ford could see that they were all looking at the same prisoner who had given the guard the nod earlier on.

The man noticed the questioning glances and nodded just once. The other prisoners moved apart to let the seaQuest men through and turned to watch them as they went. By the time they reached the back of the group of men bidding in the auction they were effectively surrounded by the inmates as the audience re-formed a little distance from them on all sides.

Ford tried not to think about that – one problem at a time. He listened to the bidding for a while getting an idea what was going on and who was who. As the price got higher men gradually dropped out of the bidding until there were only two left. When one of those men dropped out Ford took his cue and called out a bid.

The silence was instantaneous and complete.

'Your money ain't no good here, boy.'

Ford turned to face the voice, which he recognised as belonging to the only man still left in the bidding. A mental picture of what the man would look like had flashed into his head when he heard himself addressed like that and it turned out to be quite accurate - right down to the shaved head and the tattoos on the man's arms and hands.

'It's the same money as everyone else is bidding with,' Ford said, keeping his voice level and unemotional, determined not to react to the insult in the words or the tone.

'Ain't no way your colour money'll buy a pretty little white boy,' he man said.

Ford kept his face expressionless but he could feel his hands curl into fists against his brains instructions to the contrary.

'I don't know what it's like up-world but down here we have certain standards, boy,' the man continued.

Ford wasn't sure what he would have said or done right then if he hadn't felt Ben's hand on his shoulder.

'And what about my money? Is that the right colour?' Ben asked. Ford reminded himself what was important right now. Keeping Lucas safe was important. Punching out the man in front of him out only felt important.

The man opposite him looked Kreig up and down.

'You have a name?'

'Kreig,' Ben said.

It appeared to find favour. 'You're money still ain't worth anything right now,' he said, but in a very different tone of voice than he had used when talking to Ford, 'maybe if you survive the first few weeks you'll have earned the right to make bids rather than take 'em, but until then, you leave this to the real men.'

'Did I miss the part where someone put you in charge, Buckley?' A voice said from behind them.

Ford was torn between turning has back on the man in front of him or risking keeping his back to the man who had just spoken. Neither prospect appealed. A solution presented itself when the speaker who had been behind him walked around and made a third point of a triangle standing an equal distance from Ford at the head of the seaQuest group on one side and Buckley and the men standing behind him – there seemed to be far more men standing there than there had been a few moments before, each one of them a carbon copy of tattoos and hairlessness.

'I don't like having to repeat myself, Buckley. Who put you in charge?'

'Now, Angelo,' Buckley put out a hand in a pacifying gesture, 'you know I didn't mean-' He was cut short as Angelo stepped quickly towards him and grabbed the wrist of the outstretched hand. Twisting the wrist Angelo brought Buckley to his knees.

'Who do you think is in charge here, Buckley?' Angelo twisted the wrist a fraction more as he asked the question and Buckley whimpered Angelo's name back to him.

'Next time you forget you won't just get a friendly warning,' turning his back on the prostrate man he looked around the hall full of inmates as his glance passed across them they looked away, unwilling to look him in the eye.

After he had swept over the other inmates Angelo's gaze returned to the seaQuest men. As the men at the front of the little group his attention went first to Ben and Ford. Both met his gaze and refused to look away. He smiled slightly and turned his back on them to look up at the guard taking the bids.

'The snowflake can bid,' he told the guard with a nod towards Kreig. He walked back to the far wall and leaned against it in the same position he had taken earlier on. When he leaned against the wall it seemed to signal the rest of the inmates into action.

Buckley was still kneeling on the floor clutching his injured wrist and two of the skin-heads standing behind him helped him back up onto his feet. Sending a look of pure hatred towards Ford, Buckley allowed his friends to lead him out of the auction group.

The buzz of conversation started up again spreading from those who'd had a good view to those who hadn't. Ben Kreig looked up at the guard and repeated the bid that Ford had offered. It was accepted. For several moments it seemed that no-one else was going to make a bid. Then Buckley pushed his way back to the seaQuest men and standing within arms distance of Ben he tried to stare him down. He made a bid, Ben countered it with a higher one.

The bids went back and forth between them, higher and higher. Ben's tone as calm as Buckley's was angry. Everyone else in the room shifted their gaze from one man to the other in turn.

'You'd better be able to back those bids up with credits.'

Buckley turned towards Angelo's voice but Ben kept his eyes on the man opposite. 'I can pay,' he said.

Buckley hesitated and it was obvious to anyone who could see his face that he had been bidding out of his depth. 'You can have the pretty boy, he ain't worth any more than that,' he spat and backed away.

The seaQuest crew held their breath waiting for someone else to start bidding, but after several seconds of silence in which no-one spoke it appeared that they had won. The guard on the platform above them hesitated and looked at the wall opposite him for confirmation – whatever sign he had been looking for must have been forthcoming because with a quick 'going, going, gone,' the auction was over.

'What happens now?' Miguel asked.

When no-one from seaQuest spoke up an inmate near them answered the question. 'Now you pay the man,' he said with a nod towards the guard, 'you'd better be able to – Angelo doesn't like being lied to.'

The inmates were starting to disperse from around the bleachers and the man who had spoken to them moved away before they could say anything back.

'Can you raise that sort of money?' Lucas asked Ben, nervousness creeping into his voice despite his best efforts.

'I can borrow that sort of money,' Ben said.

'On your wages?' Tim asked.

'On my reputation,' Ben corrected, 'the kind of men we're talking about lend money to people who don't have a lot of declarable income. They know I'll pay them back with interest and that's what counts.'

The guard called Kreig over to him and Ben left the group and climbed to the top to the bleachers until his head was level with the guard's feet. The remaining five watched him go.

Although they were still attracting more than their fair share of attention the threat of imminent attack seemed to have waned off and for the first time since the other inmates had entered the hall Ford felt able to turn his back on the inmates and his attention to his party. He scanned their faces as he turned around – everything considered they looked a lot better than he had expected. 'Are you OK, Lucas?' Ford asked as he saw a flash of some nameless emotion pass across the teenagers face.

'I just thought of something,' Lucas said.

'What?'

'Ben is never going to let me forget this is he? He's going to be calling in favours on this for months after we get back to seaQuest.'

It seemed such a minor concern at that particular moment that it brought a chuckle and a smile to the others faces. 'Oh, it's easy for you guys to laugh – you're not the one who'll be dragged into every crazy scheme Ben can come up with for the rest of the tour!'

'But you always end up in his schemes anyway,' Tim reminded him.

'That's 'cause I'm too gullible - not because he actually owns me. He is never going to let me forget this.'

'When you were… in the prison files, Lucas. Did you find out anything about who any of the people in here were?' Ford said, avoiding the word hacking.

Lucas shook his head – 'there wasn't enough time to get into the personal files before we left.'

'So we have to do this the old fashioned way,' Ford said, 'anyone feel like doing some intelligence gathering?'

'What did you have in mind?' Ben asked, returning to the group.

'We spread out, talk to people, find out what we can, met up back here and pool our information,' Ford know that splitting up was the only way this was going to be possible but that didn't mean he had to like the idea. A glance exchanged with Ben was enough and he knew without either of them saying a word that Ben wouldn't be leaving Lucas's side.

'Everyone back here in ten minutes,' Ford said and the men each moved off in a different direction.

Lucas went to walk off on his own, but Ben stopped him. 'You know, Ben, this whole splitting up thing would be a lot easier if you let go of my arm,' he observed.

'Not going to happen,' Ben said, not releasing his grip. He knew that Lucas would be off the moment he did and that while he was sure a lot of people there would find a great deal of entertainment in watching him chase Lucas around the hall it wasn't inclined to let that happen right now.

'I'm not a little kid, Ben, I can take care of myself,' Lucas hissed.

'I didn't say you couldn't, just that I'm not inclined to let you wander off on your own at the moment.'

'So, you're reducing our ability to gather intelligence by a third on a whim?' Lucas demanded.

'Any more intelligence and your head might explode – there's only so much a human skull can hold,' Ben teased, 'and you can't blame me for protecting my investment.'

Lucas shot Ben a long suffering look. 'You're never going to let me forget this.'

It was a statement rather than a question. Ben gave his best 'who me' innocent look in response.

'Ben, this is crazy – it's not even as if I'll be out of sight – we need as much information as we can get.'

Ben shook his head.

'I'm seventeen not seven; I can take care of myself for five minutes.'

'It's not an age thing,' Ben said, knowing that the anger in Lucas's voice was at the situation and not at him and also understanding that he was the only safe target for Lucas to take out a little bit of that anger on at the moment.

'Yea, right,' Lucas didn't bother to hide any of the disbelief in his voice.

'You said it yourself earlier – you're job is to get us out of here, all the rest of us have to do is keep us safe until you can do that.'

'That doesn't mean you have to wrap me in cotton-wool,' Lucas protested. In truth he did like the reassurance that having Ben near him provided, he felt almost safe knowing his friend was close, but still he had to put up some sort of fight, he wouldn't be him if he didn't.

* * *

'Trouble in paradise?' Ford recognised Angelo's voice and followed his gaze until he spotted Ben and Lucas in the middle of an argument. He shook his head – it really was impossible to leave those two alone for five minutes without them bickering or winding each other up about something.

'It's Angelo, isn't it?' Ford asked, turning back to him and taking the opportunity to get a better reading on him. The man still leaned against the wall.

He nodded, 'Angelo della Morte.'

'Jonathan Ford.'

'Looks like you guys are in for an interesting time Jonathan – it's been a while since we had a fresh delivery.'

'We've survived worse,' Ford replied, although he wasn't sure they had.

'A sensible man would stop thinking about "we" and start thinking in "I's",' Angelo told him, 'they aren't your responsibility any more and they won't survive in here.'

Ford stared at Angelo without saying anything for several moments. 'A sensible man wouldn't underestimate them.'

'You think your little flagship taught them how to survive in Alcatraz? You may find you are the one who is underestimating things.'

Ford hadn't missed the reference to seaQuest. 'And you know what we learnt on seaQuest?' he asked.

'I know as much as your files can tell anyone. Surprised, Jonathan? The guards want an easy life – and that's what I give them in return for… oh, in return for lots of things, including information. Buckley forgot who ran this prison, don't make the same mistake.'

Ford had the uncomfortable feeling that those last few words had been a dismissal; he had to admit at least to himself if no one else, that he didn't leave Angelo just because the ten minutes he gave everyone was almost up.

The others were all making their way back to Lucas and Ben, who stopped arguing with each other as they approached. Ford took first turn.

'Angelo's full name is Angelo Della Morte,' he stopped as he saw the look on Tim's face and waited for him to speak, everyone's attention turned to the comms officer.

'It's Italian,' he told them, 'it means Angel of Death.'

'Great,' Miguel muttered.

'From what he said, the guards more or less let him run the place – he's seen all of our files, he knows everything about us,' he didn't mention Angelo's advice – some things really were better left unsaid. 'Did anyone find out what he did to get put in here?'

'He kills people,' Shan said.

'Why?' Tim asked.

'Apparently, because he enjoys it. His target of choice was the police and he was said to be very… inventive,' Shan said.

A buzzer sounded and the doors into the cell block opened. The prisoners started to file through the doorway and the seaQuest men held back until they were almost the last ones through so they would have a chance to observe the new environment without people pushing behind them. A guard with a charge baton stood on either side of the door and the seaQuest men were directed to one side.

Each man was given a small pile of clothes and bedding by another pair of guards who then led them to three cells near the centre of the block on the same side of the room as the door leading to the guards' areas.

The cells each contained a set of bunk beds fixed to the wall, on the other side was a table flanked by chairs and again fastened to the wall. The far wall housed a sink and toilet, the latter hidden from the door by a rudimentary privacy screen. The guards pointed to Lucas and Ben. 'You two in there. You four can work out the rest between yourselves,' he waved the baton to indicate the other four seaQuest men.

And then the guards were gone back to the resting room that looked down on the prison population – or at least that part of it that wasn't hidden from their view. The only guard who had a view of the seaQuest cells was stationed on a platform walkway similar to the one in the exercise hall that ran across the top of the opposite cells. He didn't seem very interested in seeing anything he didn't want to see.

Lucas and Ben walked into their room and Lucas dumped his pile of stuff on the top bunk.

'Hey, that's my bunk!' Ben protested.

'Not a chance,' Lucas swung himself up onto the top bunk.

'What happened to showing respect for your elders, kid?'

'Well, an old guy like you wouldn't want to struggle up here every night.'

'Don't make me move you,' Ben warned.

'You think you could?' Lucas challenged in turn.

'If one of you would like to pretend to be an adult for a few minutes...' They both turned to see Ford in the doorway. 'Shan and I are on your right, Tim and Miguel are on your left,' he told them pointing in the appropriate directions.

'When do we get to eat?' Miguel asked, popping his head around the doorway.

Ford shook his head. 'Different time zone – from what I can gather in a few minutes the cells will be locked down and that's it until breakfast tomorrow morning.

'You're not serious?'

'The food will probably be even worse than it is on the boat,' Lucas pointed out from the top bunk, 'we're not missing much.'

'Speaking as someone who does actually remember to eat while I'm on the boat, I'd rather not be missing it at all.'

Another buzzer sounded and the other inmates began hurrying into their cells, Ford and Miguel both did the same. A few seconds later the blue electric barriers sprang to life across each cell door.

Everything was quiet. Ben who was still standing in the middle of the room wondering how he was going to get Lucas off the top bunk, moved to the door and tried to look out without breaking the field and getting electrocuted in the process. A few minutes later he saw a pair of guards move along the opposite block of cells checking that all the prisoners were in their allotted cells. He mouthed this information to Lucas, remembering what had happened when Lucas has spoken to Commander Stephens from inside the brig back on seaQuest. Ben had no intention of having anything thrown at him.

Lucas nodded his understanding, turning slightly from where he lay on the bed so he would be clearly visible to whoever came to the door and so he could see them clearly too. It took the guards a few minutes to reach their cell and close up Commander Stephens was recognisable though the blue electric field.

'You seem to have settled in well, Kreig,' he said with a leer up at Lucas, 'you can tell us tomorrow if he really was worth all that money.'

He left a gap for Ben to answer but Ben forced himself to stay silent even as his hands clenched into fists at his side. Commander Stephens failed to notice his reaction and looked back to Lucas, 'you enjoy yourself tonight, pretty boy,' he laughed again and walked on to the next cell.

Ben glanced up at Lucas who had his eyes lowered and was blushing. The idea of dragging him down and fighting him for the top bunk seemed less appealing than it had a few minutes earlier. With a silent sigh Ben dumped his stuff on the lower bunk and sat down there – hoping a bit of time would help Lucas regain his composure.

As the guards left the cell block the sound of talking from the other cells filled the air. Ben's little encounter with Buckley had made his name public knowledge among the other prisoners. It wasn't long before the inmates started calling out to Kreig. They both ignored the taunts and questions they called out to him about Lucas. Surely sooner or later they would get board and go to sleep if they just ignored them.

Ben lay on the bottom bunk with his eyes open staring up at the base of the top bunk by the strange light of the electronic feilds. The cat calls were continuous now, but where as the taunts that had been thrown when they first entered the prison had blurred together to become little more than noise, this time each and every word was obscenely clear.

Lucas lay on the top bunk and buried his face in his hands. He tried clamping his hands over his ears so he would have to listen to what the men were saying about him, what they were asking Ben about him, what they were telling Ben to do to him. It was impossible to block out the words. He pushed his head under the thin pillow but every word still came through loud and clear. He clamped the pillow down onto his head and made a desperate noise, half moan half sob, in the back of his throat when that failed too.

Ben didn't know which hurt him the most, the calls from the other prisoners or that tiny little sob from the top bunk. He knew Lucas couldn't take much more of this, hell, he couldn't take much more of it himself. He had to do something, anything, to make it stop and as much as he hated it he knew there was only one way for him to do that.

He quietly stood up in the cell. Lucas still had the pillow over his head and couldn't see him. Ben gently reached out and touched Lucas's shoulder to get his attention. The teenager sprang away from his touch and backed up until the wall of the cell stopped him moving any further away from Ben. He sat on the bed staring at Ben, fear making his breath ragged and shallow, his eyes wide open and terrified. Ben froze, his eyes following Lucas's retreat. He lowered the hand that still hovered in the air where Lucas's shoulder had been.

'I'm not going to hurt you,' Ben said, gently, only just audible against the shouts outside the cell walls.

'I know,' Lucas whispered, but his back was still pressed hard against the wall and he was as far away from Ben as he could get.

'I'm going to try to get them to stop shouting,' Ben told him.

Wairily Lucas asked, 'how?'

Ben couldn't met the teenagers eyes as he said insdead he looked at the wall a few inches to the left of Lucas's head, 'they won't stop until I answer them.'

'And say what?' Lucas asked, closing his eyes so he didn't have to look at his friend.

'What they want to hear,' Ben managed to bring his eyes to Lucas's face, the boy's eyes were squeezed tight shut and his bottom lip was between his teeth. 'Lucas?'

He released his bottom lip but kept his eyes shut, 'yes?'

'Put your fingers in your ears, hum and try not to listen, ok?'

Ben watched Lucas do as he said and then he went to the doorway and stood as near as he could to the electric field. He turned his back to Lucas, if the boy heard what he was going to say Ben knew he didn't want to see his face when he did.

It was one of the skills he'd learnt in his time with the UEO – to be able to talk about almost any subject with conviction and confidence, even if he was making it up as he was going along. Looking through the blue glow of the field, Ben couldn't see through the fields on the opposite cells, the two electric fields at different angels made it impossible and Ben knew that ment that no-one in the opposite side of the cell block could see him either. He lent against the wall and fighting down the sick feeling in his stomach began to call back to the inmates.

As soon as they worked out who was speaking the other inmates fell silent and listened to him. Ben forced the words out, trying to sound as if he didn't despise every word that passed his lips. When he was finished there were cheers and a round of applause from the cells around them and then silence finally descended for the first time since the guards had left.

Ben stayed by the door, leaning against the wall for what seemed like an age before he could force himself to turn back towards Lucas. The teenager had unplugged his ears at some point, Ben hoped like hell it was after he had finished talking. Lucas sat on the top bunk, staring down at his hands, his cheeks red. Ben tried to tell himself it was just a trick of the strange blue light that made it look like Lucas's eyes shone and as if there were tracts down his cheeks left by tears.

This isn't happening, Lucas told himself, and he knew deep down that _it_ wasn't happening. He was with Ben, he was with his friend, he was safe. But with Ben's words along with the memory of the auction ringing in his ears Lucas didn't feel safe. All the earlier jokes he and Ben had traded sounded sordid and tarnished now.

Nothing that had happened since they arrived in the prison had seemed real, not until the electric fields had sealed the doors. Now Lucas found himself unable to block out ideas of what could have happened, what could be happening right now, if Ben hadn't been the one with the winning bid.

After a few minutes Ben went back to the bottom bunk. He knew he had to say something, anything, to get the words he had said out of his own head and Lucas's. The longed for silence was suddenly oppressive.

'How much trouble do you think we'd get into if we mixed itching powder in with the seaQuest officers uniforms next time they're sent to the laundry?' he asked.

The silence went on for so long that Ben was starting to wonder if Lucas had no intention of answering him.

Lucas bit his lip and brushed the tears from his eyes. He tried to turn his attention away from the images in his head and toward what Ben was saying now. When he did finally speak Lucas's voice shook with obvious control. 'It's a bit of a cliché isn't it?'

'The word is classic. And the reason it has become as classic is that it is hilarious if preformed correctly,' Ben said with slightly brittle cheerfulness.

'Ford would kill you,' was the teenager's voice was just slightly less controlled, slightly more natural?

'He wouldn't know it was me for certain,' Ben pointed out.

'He'd know.'

'Ah! But he wouldn't actually kill me unless he was certain – and to be certain he'd need proof. That's the secret to success with guys like Ford who do everything by the book – never leave any proof and they can't do anything about it.'

Ben let silence return to the cell for a little while, hoping that the reminder of life on seaQuest had relaxed Lucas enough to say something without prompting.

'What was that guy's problem with Ford anyway?'

On the lower bunk Ben released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding – the look he had seen in Lucas's eyes before he had retreated to his own bunk wouldn't disappear from his memory any time soon but he could deal with the memory of it later, right now he wanted it out of Lucas's eyes – he needed to know that Lucas still saw him as a friend rather than a threat. 'Who? The guy in the exercise yard?' Ben carefully worded the question to leave out any mention of the auction.

'Yea, the one with all the tattoos.'

'Same problem the guard Commander had with you. Simple prejudice,' Ben said.

'Because Ford's black?'

'Yea.'

'That's stupid.

'Yea, kid, it is.'

'He had letters tattooed on the back of his hand. One on each finger.'

'Did he?' Ben asked, not caring what they were talking about if it was keeping Lucas thinking of anything except what he had said to the other men about him.

'SWP,' Lucas said, 'do you know what it means?'

'It stands for supreme white power.'

'Oh.' Lucas was silent for a few moments, 'how do you know that?'

'A few years ago the UEO was sent to intervene in a series of race riots near one of the shore bases. There were lots of Buckley's there.'

'What does the Orion one mean?'

'O.R.I.O.N?' Ben asked, 'our race is our nation.' It wasn't a topic he liked, but he really wanted to keep Lucas talking for a while longer. 'They all mean more or less the same thing.'

'That the person with the tattoo is an idiot?'

Ben allowed himself to relax slightly as he felt Lucas relax into their usual style of conversation on the bunk above him. 'That's right, kid.'

Another few minutes of silence. Ben waited for Lucas to speak, allowing the boy to chose his own topic.

'Do you think the others are alright?' Lucas asked, the words almost a whisper.

'They're only next door – I'm sure we would have heard if anything was wrong.'

'No, I mean the others, I don't think Katie and Commander Stephens will get on very well.'

'Katie's a smart girl – she can take care of herself.'

'Yea,' Lucas didn't sound too convinced.

'There was this bar we used to go to when we were in the academy,' Ben said, 'and the bartender there was always hitting on her. This one night he's been drinking behind the bar all through his shift and after she turns him down again he flips out and practically jumps on her. Next thing we know Katie has him pinned against the wall and she's telling him, in very vivid detail exactly what she will do to him if he ever tries to lay so much as a finger on her again.'

'Did he ever try?'

'No way! And every man on the base was extremely polite to her for weeks after that too. Some of those threats were extremely vivid.'

* * *

'The guards sleeping quarters weren't really set up for segregation by gender, we've put you and the doctor in the room on the end.'

'That will be fine,' Katie said, as she walked into the small cabin and dropped her hold-all on one of the twin beds. She turned back to the door to dismiss the guard who had shown her to the room but found him inside the room and less than a yard away from her.

'I think I can find my way from here, lieutenant Niven,' she said coolly.

'It's been a while since most of those prisoners have seen a beautiful woman,' he said, moving a step closer to her.

'I'll bear that in mind,' Katie said, holding her ground on principle and knowing that the bed was behind her – any attempt to put extra space between them and she would fall back onto it.

'We do long tours down here,' Niven said, closing the gap slightly again, 'it's been a while since most of the guards saw a beautiful woman too.'

'Back off, lieutenant,' Katie said.

He took another small step towards her.

'I won't warn you again, lieutenant, back off,' Katie ordered him, still outwardly very calm and composed. Their bodies were only separated by a couple of inches.

Niven took the last step forward so their bodies were just about touching. 'It's been a long time since I was this close to a beautiful woman,' he half said half whispered in her ear.

In the same half whisper she asked him, 'how long has in been since you were this close to singing boy soprano again?' Katie flexed her wrist and the expression on Niven's face froze as he felt the blade of a knife against his crotch.

'This,' she moved the knife slightly, making sure she had his undivided attention, 'is a Tactical Military folding knife with a one hand opening mechanism. It's specially designed for use by UEO Special Forces personal, it's practically indestructible and I sharpen it every day. Do you have any questions, lieutenant Niven?'

Lieutenant Niven shook his head very carefully.

'So glad to hear it,' she withdrew the knife slightly and Niven stopped trying to stand on tip toe, 'good-bye.'

She watched him leave and then closed the door and locked it behind him before she folded the knife back up and slipped it back into her pocket.

* * *

A late dinner had been arranged for the Captain and the others and while Katie had retired to her room to brush up on some of the protocols the guards were all expected to know, the other three from seaQuest had chosen to linger over their coffee.

Kristen Westphalen smiled slightly to herself, not because of Commander Stephens earlier attempts to flirt with her, but because of Nathan Bridger's reactions to it. Who knew that the Nathan felt so protective of her? Not that she couldn't deal with it herself if she chose to, but still it was amusing to watch Nathan warn the other man off every time he tried it on.

She torn her attention away from her thoughts as a young lieutenant came back into the room. Kristen vaguely remembered him as the one who had shown Katie to her room a little while ago. Niven? Something like that. He walked over to a group of other guards and they were soon deep in conversation.

Crocker, catching the direction of her gaze followed it to the guards. 'These academy pups are all the same – always plotting something,' he said.

Bridger smiled thinking of Ben and Lucas plotting things back on seaQuest – usually on Commander Ford. 'I wonder who the target of choice is here…' he mused.

On the other side of the room Niven kept his voice low. No need to let the visitors overhear them. 'I'll make sure the bitch regrets pulling that knife on me!' he told the other guards. They all nodded. The plan was set…

To be continued…

* * *

And that's it for now. Next chapter will be up as soon as possible. Any comments please do leave a review – I like to know that there are people out there reading.

Cadi.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry about the delay on this story. I've been side tracked for a long time with some other writing projects. Thank you for everyone who reviewed so far. As always, I don't own anyone I write about.

**Chapter 6.**

Lieutenant Kreig jerked awake as the buzzer sounded. He stared blurry eyed at the bunk above him. Since when did he share? It gradually came back to him. It hadn't all been a bad dream. He pushed himself off the bunk to stand in the small space between the beds and the metal table moulded into the opposite wall.

Twisting this way and that he tried to stretch out some of the kinks the uncomfortable mattress had lodged in his back. Making lots of noise so Lucas would know he was up and about he turned back to the bunks and looked at his young friend.

Lucas sat curled into as small a space as possible in the far corner of the top bunk rubbing his eyes. The dark circles under his eyes and his messed up hair made Lucas look even younger than usual – far too young to be in a place like Alcatraz.

The last thing Ben remembered from the night before, after everything had gone quiet outside their cell and he had run out of meaningless things to say, was lying listening to Lucas breathing on the top bunk and waiting to hear the rhythm of the breaths settle into sleep. After staying awake for what felt like hours Ben had fallen asleep before he had heard Lucas do the same.

He had to say something. 'Did you sleep at all?' Ben asked.

Lucas shrugged, which Ben interpreted as a no. Ben couldn't blame him for that.

The electric fields sealing them in the cell deactivated and through the doorway they saw inmates walking past carrying towels. Ben picked up his from the pile they had been issued and tossed the other towel to Lucas. The seaQuest delegation were all waiting for them outside their cell with concerned looks on their faces.

Lucas didn't attempt to meet their eyes. Ben forced himself to look along the line of faces, but the only things he saw there were sympathy and understanding. Then, as he watched, confusion flitted across Tim O'Neill's face. Following his gaze Ben found himself staring at Lucas again. Lucas had his hands crossed in front of his chest and the sleeve of his shirt was pushed back revealing a deep purple bruise.

By the time he looked up everyone from the crew was staring at Lucas's wrists.

'What happened to your wrists?' Tim asked.

Lucas looked at the bruises for a few seconds as just noticing them. 'The handcuffs,' he said.

Ben watched each of the men examine their wrists and those of the men next to them. They had all worn the same cuffs but there were no bruises marring their skins. They all looked to Lucas again.

'I was unlocking the codes,' he said softly, 'I had to twist my hands around so I could reach the panel on the front of the cuffs.'

Ben nodded at the apologetic looked the other men sent him. Maybe his half smile of understanding was slightly bitter, but Ben couldn't really blame the man for what they thought. When Ford spoke to Lucas Ben moved across to Tim's side.

'I'm sorry, Ben, I just…' Tim trailed off unable to put what he had thought into words.

'If any of you say the things that I said about Lucas last night… I'd be more inclined to throw punches first and ask questions later.'

'You did the right thing,' Ford said as he came back to the tail end of their conversation.

'You wouldn't have done it,' Ben observed.

'No, I wouldn't,' Ford admitted, 'and Lucas would have had to listen to what they were saying about him all night. He's lucky he ended up with you.'

'He doesn't believe that right now,' Ben said and he was unable to hide the emotion behind the words. 'You didn't see the look in his eyes last night, Ford, he was terrified of me.'

'You didn't put that look in his eyes, Ben. They did,' he nodded at the other prisoners. 'You want to blame someone for what Lucas is going through? Blame the idiots who sent him down here. You didn't do anything wrong. His father put him here – his own son, Ben! And the UEO gave in rather than stand up to his father.'

Ben nodded slowly, wanting to believe what Ford said. But he still couldn't make that fit with the fear in Lucas's eyes the night before.

The other inmates split up into five roughly equal groups in the space between the rows of cells. One of the inmates explained. 'Shower groups. Alphabetical,' he pointed to each group and said which letters they represent. 'A to E go first.'

'Alphabetical?' Ben repeated, working out their last names in the right order. The groups the inmate said would put him and Ford in the second group. Tim and Miguel would be together in the third group. That would leave Shan on his own in the fourth group and, worse still; Lucas would be on his own in the last group.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Two of the prison guards came into the cell block, batons charged, and the prisoners scurried into the groups. All the seaQuest men could do was separate out the same. Lucas stayed close to the edge of his group and saw Shan move so he was as close as he could get to Lucas's group.

He offered a weak smile across to Shan. Then he turned his attention to his group. It contained the tail end of the alphabet and slightly fewer men than the others. Lucas tried and failed to think on the positive side. He wouldn't have blended into a bigger crowd but even his many men was far too many.

Trying not to be obvious, Lucas glanced at the men in his group. Would he stand a chance against any of them? Probably not. They were all bigger than him and right then being smarter than all combined wasn't reassuring.

It wasn't easy to read the situation and simultaneously avoid eye-contact. That was what people said wasn't it? Eye contact was some sort of challenge? The only person he recognised was the man from the auction, Angelo. Everyone gave Angelo plenty of personal space. Lucas would have given anything to inspire that response and get all the space he wanted with a look. Even more than that, Lucas wished that his name began with a different letter – ideally something between F and K so he could be in the same group as Ben and Ford.

No, he couldn't think like that. He shouldn't drag them into his problems. He had always dealt with problems on his own and he still could. He just had to think this through. He did have advantages, he had his own strengths. Every situation and every weakness could be turned to an advantage if you were smart enough.

The first group moved off towards a door that Lucas assumed led to the showers. That would be another advantage of having a name earlier in the alphabet – not having to wait and wonder what would happen when it was his turn.

By the time it was his turn the others were already back in the cell block. Lucas tried to give them a reassuring smile. They didn't look reassured. Miguel's tried to turn his face away so Lucas wouldn't see the blood on his slip lip but he was too late.

The guards led the group down long blank grey corridor. It shouldn't be possible for someone who lived in a submarine to feel claustrophobic in any size space, Lucas thought, but with prisoners and guards all around him he did. Lucas tried to take deep even breaths, hyperventilating wouldn't help. In the back of his mind he recited the chemical equations involved in respiration and then moved on to the details of aerobic metabolism.

They entered a large tiled room and through an opening to one side Lucas heard the showers. Real showers with water – not the sonic ones they had on seaQuest. It would be good, Lucas told himself. He hadn't had an old fashioned water shower in ages. It would be good to get wet without wearing a wet suit. As the other men began removing their clothes Lucas did the same. Don't think about it. It's all in your mind, it's not actually possible to feel peoples eyes watching you.

The guards stood by the door watching too. It seemed that talking was allowed and muted conversations started to flow between the inmates. Lucas stayed silent and didn't invite anyone into conversation. Maybe if he ignored everyone else, they would ignore him too.

'Did you enjoy your first night at Alcatraz, pretty boy?' one of the guards called across the room.

Lucas tried to pretend he hadn't heard but all the other conversations stopped as the other prisoners listened.

'He must have enjoyed it!' the other guard said loud and clear so everyone would hear him. 'There's not a mark on him apart from his wrists.'

'Couldn't have put up much of a fight, could he?' and the guard laughed.

'You remember when Johnson came in – he was covered in bruises and could barely walk with the mess on him.'

'This one obviously knows his place already,' another man observed.

'And likes his place too,' both the guards laughed at that and Lucas heard similar murmurs from the prisoners.

Lucas looked down at his wrists and wished he had more bruises to show for his first day in prison. They all thought he just he'd let Ben… he swallowed down the bile in the back of his throat. Deep breaths. Don't think about it.

He was too lost in his own thoughts to catch the guards order, but he followed the other prisoners in the shower area anyway. The room was tiled floor to ceiling with rows of shower heads on each wall and a drain in the centre of the room. Attached to each shower head was a length of rope with a bar of soap on the end of it.

Lucas gave a mental shrug. The showers on the seaQuest were designed to be private either. He had got used to showering with other men, all of them a lot older than him a lot time ago. This was no different. Lucas stopped underneath one of the shower heads and turned the water on. He stood still underneath the pounding water for several seconds just enjoying the clean feeling as the water ran down his body.

With water blurring his eyes he reached out to adjust the temperature control. Touching a hot water pipe by mistake he jerked his hand away. Rubbing the tender skin that touched the pipe Lucas blinked the water out of his eyes. The pipes were uncovered and ran from floor to ceiling. He shook his head at the blistering skin on his finger tip; at least he wasn't in a position to do any typing anyway.

Lucas examined the bar of soap on the length of rope. Suddenly all those jokes about dropping the soap weren't so funny. Well, they hadn't been funny before but they hadn't been terrifying either. He didn't hear the man walk up behind him.

Rough hands pushed him towards the wall. Instinct and sensory memory of the scalding pipe put his hands out and stopped him landing full body against the wall. Hands braced against the tiles Lucas's face was just three inches from the hot water pipe. He tried to push himself away from the wall. A hand on his back between his shoulder blades stopped him, no matter how hard he pushed he couldn't get any further away from the pipe – he could feel the heat radiating from it on his skin.

Lucas took a deep breath. It was important to sound strong even when you felt weak.

'Get off me!' he demanded, trying to look over his shoulder to see who was behind him.

'That's no way to great a welcoming party,' a voice behind him mocked.

Lucas put all his strength into an effort to turn around and face his attacker but the man held him in place with humiliating ease. The hand on his back moved and Lucas tried to take advantage of that to push away from the wall. He might have one moment where he could slip away as the man moved. But Lucas found his back against a man's bare chest as the man mirrored the position of his body. He was solid and immovable. Lucas tried to turn away but the man leaned into him and pushed him back as close as ever to the scalding pipes.

Lucas couldn't avoid realising the man behind him was really and physically enjoying all this contact. One of the man's hands slid down his side and then brush up along his stomach and over his chest.

'Let me go,' Lucas demanded again and tried to push back harder, but his arms trembled just with the effort of not moving any closer to the pipes. All he succeeded in was pressing his back more firmly against the man behind him.

'Your mind says no, but what does your body say?' the man laughed.

As the man's hand slid back down over his stomach Lucas could feel his own body, unaccustomed to being touched by anyone else, slowly react against his will. No. That couldn't happen. Lucas stopped pushing against the wall with one hand so he move the man's away, but a fraction of a second later he had to replace his hand against the wall as he was pushed within an inch of the pipes.

Frantic, Lucas yelled as loud as he could for the man to get off him. The only response the man made was to bring his free hand to cover Lucas's mouth. Lucas bit down hard, drawing blood as his teeth went down to the bone. The man swore and pulled his hand away. Lucas took a breath but then the bloody hand was threaded into his wet hair, yanking his head back onto the man's shoulder. 'If you want to scream, I'm more than willing to make you scream, pretty.'

'Get off me!' Lucas shouted again. Where were the guard? Couldn't they hear him? Maybe they could hear and just didn't care?

'Or maybe I could find a better use for your mouth instead?' the man whispered.

With his head pulled back Lucas wasn't as close to the pipes. All the pressure was holding him back against the inmate. Lucas grabbed at the water controls. The shower above them stuttered and then poured out full force and icy cold. His attacker gasped took an instinctive step back.

Lucas took his chance. He hit out the man before he could work out was happening. He might not be a very good fighter but he understood basic anatomy. Lucas punched him in the solar plexus as hard as he could and knocked the breath out of him. He doubled over and Lucas pushed against him with all the energy he had left. Already off balance, he fell backward his head connecting hard with the tiles.

Lucas looked up and saw everyone had watched the attack with interest. One at a time maybe he could take out a few more. But there were more than a few of them and he'd lost any element of surprise. If more than one attacked simultaneously he wouldn't have a chance. None of them looked like they played fair.

Leaning against a part of the shower wall that wasn't home to any of the pipes Angelo watched with obvious amusement. Lucas glared at him for a second before turning his attention back to the others. If Angelo said the word and Lucas knew the others would back off. But he had no reason to speak up. Lucas knew he had to stop looking to other people to save him…

'It appears that pretty boy has strong feelings about the property laws,' Angelo observed mockingly. Lucas looked to him. Help or hindrance? Friend or threat? He was probably the latter.

The guy on the floor scrambled away from Angelo leaving a trail of blood as he staggered out of the shower room. The other men filed out of the showers leaving Angelo and Lucas alone. Still standing under the cold shower, Lucas's teeth started chattered with a cold and shock but he wouldn't turn his back on Angelo to adjust the temperature.

Angelo walked across and didn't even flinch as the cold water poured over him. Lucas followed his movements, unsure what was going to happen next but trying to be ready to defend himself when he needed to. Lucas started to breath again as Angelo turned the water controls so warm water emerged again and returned to his habitual pose on the opposite wall.

'You put up a better fight than I expected,' Angelo said with amusement still evident in his voice.

'So glad I proved you with some entertainment,' Lucas snapped. What was the point pretending politeness would change anything? All he could do was try to stay sane until the virus kicked in and sarcasm helped with that.

'I'll remind Kreig to teach his toy some manners,' Angelo observed.

'His toy?' The comment was startled out of him before he could think better of it.

'That's what you are. His toy,' Angelo informed him, 'until he tires of you and sells you on. I heard him last night. He understands that even if you don't.'

Angelo saw his expression and laughed. 'He won't tire of you too quickly. But still, Kreig mustn't get greedy – everyone has to learn how to share sooner or later and he'll get a good price for you even after he's broken you in. There aren't any toys in here that can compete with you.'

'I feel so special.'

Angelo raised an eyebrow. 'Where did you learn to fight like that?'

Lucas remembered what Angelo had told Buckley about not liking to repeat himself and resisted the temptation to ignore the question. But he couldn't bring himself to be polite either.

'Let me see,' Lucas said, as if he was giving the question serious thought. 'Maybe when I was in boarding school, or college, or juvenile detention or maybe when I was on a navy submarine. Or maybe all of the above – I've been pushing men away in the showers since for as long as I can remember.' He was too tired to care any more if the sarcasm prompted a beating now.

Angelo considered him carefully. 'You're not as well trained as the guards thought, there's still a bit of spirit left.'

Lucas glared at him across the room.

'Kreig's a lucky man.'

Lucas forced himself to stay silent.

'How long has he been lucky for?'

'What?' Silence never had been one of his strengths.

'You were together on the seaQuest, right? Or was Ford the lucky one there? Or maybe your Captain?'

Lucas didn't know what look passed across his face but it made Angelo laugh.

'No,' Angelo said, 'you'd have learnt to hide your emotions better than that if you were whoring to any of them. Kreig should have taken to the stage. He talked a good game last night but I'll bet that he didn't lay a hand on you, pretty. Don't worry though; you won't have to wait too long. Once he's been here a while he'll stop thinking about you as the kid from the boat – they all will.'

He left then but Lucas gave himself a moment with his eyes closed under the soothing warm water. The moment stretched out until the guard ordered him out. He got dried and dressed as quickly as he could. The other men were already dressed. Lucas learnt a long shower wasn't worth being the only one naked in that room.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'What's taking so long?' Kreig muttered as he watched the door leading to and from the showers.

No-one answered – they didn't want to say any reason they could think of.

'What happened?' Shan asked Miguel as he saw the bruised lip.

Miguel shrugged. 'Nothing that I couldn't handle.'

No-one wanted to say it but Ben could see it on all their faces. There was a huge difference between what Miguel could handle and what Lucas could deal with.

'Come on, kid…' Ben whispered softly. 'Come on…' he taped his fingers against the edge of the doorway unable to stay completely still. What if the things he had said last night had just made it worse for the boy? What if…? Ben took a deep breath. He couldn't afford to make rash judgements like he had. He should have thought it through first. But he had wanted it to stop and it had seemed like the only option.

The last group started to return from the showers. Ben searched the crowd for a familiar blonde head of hair. Come on, Lucas… where are you…

'There!'

They all followed Shan's direction and saw him at the back of the group. Ben tried to scan Lucas for visible injuries as Lucas crossed the room to them.

'Okay, kid?' Ben asked as lightly as he could.

Lucas nodded and didn't offer any other information. Everyone scanned him.

'I'd be a lot better if you guys would all stop looking at me like that,' Lucas said.

A few minutes later another buzzer sounded. All the men began to move in one direction and the seaQuest crew were carried along in the current. Ben took hold of Lucas's arm by the elbow determined not to let him out of his sight again.

Lucas glared up at him. 'Where exactly do you think I'm going to run away to?' he asked. 'I don't need a baby sitter.'

'Stop squabbling, I swear you both need a baby sitter,' Ford said and moved as subtly as possible to Lucas's other side.

Lucas glared at him too but didn't bother to protest.

'Breakfast!' Miguel announced. 'Food!'

A few minutes later they each sat at a table with a bowl. 'Maybe I spoke to soon,' Miguel corrected, 'because whatever this is, it isn't food…' he picked up his spoon and watched the gruel drop back into the bowl with a heavy squelch.

'Just eat it, Ortiz,' Ford said. He looked at his own food but Ben couldn't see any real enthusiasm. Ford looked around the table.

'A good commander leads by example,' Ben reminded him. Ford tasted a spoon full of the grey substance. The other watched sceptically.

'It's not that bad.' Everyone looked sceptical. 'Okay, it is that bad, but you're not going to get anything else so just eat it.' He glared at them until, one by one, they picked up their spoons and investigated their food substitute. 'You too Lucas.'

'I'm not hungry.' Lucas was watching another table. Ben saw that while almost everyone else ate the same gruel, one table was the exception to the rule.

Angelo sat on his own eating what looked like fresh bread and some sort of sweet spread.

'He was in your group?' Tim said as he saw who they studied.

'Yeah,' Lucas said with a shrug.

'What happened?'

Lucas shrugged again, 'nothing.'

The others exchanged looks across the table until they all looked to Ben. It was true that if Lucas did have a best friend on the boat it was him. But, getting Lucas to talk when he didn't want to was as impossible for him as it was for the others.

Heart to heart talks about sensitive subjects weren't his forte. He was the big brother who handed out condoms and advice. Bridger was the one who dealt with all the serious stuff.

'Nothing?' Ben asked.

Lucas looked around the ring of faces. Tactical error right there. If he would talk to someone, which was unlikely enough, he wasn't going to talk to them all right here and now. It would have been better to try and speak to him alone. But that would have meant waiting until that night and it wasn't a topic that could be delayed.

'Nothing,' Lucas repeated.

Miguel went to say something more but Ben shook his head he everyone fell silent again. He would have to find a better way of handling this.

The day revolved around the buzzer sounding at various intervals. It sounded again and the prisoners moved in a pattern of long habit towards the door and back to the cells. The seaQuest men could do nothing but follow their lead.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'All you have to do is enter your code here, close the door to the inmates area, then enter your code into the other terminal here and that will open the door to the guards area. Simple as that. Got it?'

Katie Hitchcock nodded and tried not to feel patronised. Maybe they treated all new guards like idiots, not just the women. It was possible. It was hard to believe that Niven wasn't a complete creep to everyone. But at least he was keeping his distance today. That message had been received loud and clear.

'I'll go through first with my codes. When I close the far door come through and test out your codes.' Katie watched Niven go through and input the codes to access the guards area.

She heard the buzzer indicating the inmates return into the cell block and held back a sigh at how slow Niven moved. She still stood in the cell block when the inmates started to file in.

Finally he closed the door to the guards section and Katie typed in her own code. The door opened and Katie stepped into the small room, closing the door behind her.

The click that should have sounded didn't. She frowned and tugged at the door trying to get the security programme to register that it was closed. It stubbornly refused to click. She looked over her shoulder to ask Niven what she did wrong. He was gone.

The clear section of the far door showed empty corridor. She turned back to her door and saw the cell block rapidly filling up with inmates. She couldn't see any guards there either. Remembering the view down from the guards break room she looked up. There was a clear panel in the ceiling so that they would be able to see into this room in the event of trouble. Maybe a guard was up there...

Stephens and the others looking down at her. Niven, in a front row seat, waved at her and smirked. Commander Stephens picked up what looked like a radio microphone. 'A little trouble with the locks, Katie?' he asked with apparent concern.

A glance into the inmates area and Katie new that the words had been broadcast in there. Inmates began to approach the door. It wouldn't take them long to realise that the trick was on her and not them.

Grabbing the baton from her belt Katie pressed the switch to charge it. Nothing happened. She looked back up. Niven grinned and offered her a mock salute. It was fully charged when she had picked it up this morning. What had he done to it? She had checked it. But she had also handed it to him so he could explain the technical aspects of it in his misogynist monotone. Had it been out of her sight?

Whatever he some how wiped the charge or merely switched the batons, it was dead now. Katie weighed the baton in her grip. It was too light to be a useful weapon when it wasn't electrified. A blow to the head would stun someone for a moment but beyond that it was just so many inches of insubstantial plastic.

Although the door it opened out into the inmates area there was a curved handle protruding from the guards' side too. She pushed the baton through the handle and wedged it against the wall. A push against it told her that the door was shut as firmly as it could be. She'd bought herself a bit of time but the baton wouldn't hold out for long against real force from the other side of the door.

The knife rested in her pocket. She extracted it and flicked out the blade. Not the ideal weapon in the circumstances but it would make a few people very sorry for trying to get through the door. A quick look around the little room and that was it. She had a knife and she would use it. After that…

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

They all heard the commotion as they trailed into the cell block. Lucas looked in the same direction as the others. 'What's going on?'

Shan went off to find out what was going on while the others stayed together. Something was obviously happening around the entrance to the guards part of the complex but there were so many prisoners bunched up it was impossible to see if there were any guards involved or not.

Shan came across to them at a full run. 'Katie is in there.'

'But it's locked, right?' Ford asked. Lucas watched each of the men assess the situation and go into full military mode.

'No sir, it's malfunction,' Shan reported.

They all looked to Lucas. 'The virus?' Ford asked quickly

Lucas shook his head. 'It can't be the virus. It doesn't work like that…' he trailed off.

'Where are the other guards?' Ford snapped.

'It's just Commander Hitchcock.'

All Lucas could do was watch as Ben and Ford exchanged looks and nodded. They all started running at the same time. Reaching the crowd of prisoners they started to pull them away from the door, but the men were several deep and it was impossible for them to make any progress.

Ben made it within three deep of the door. Lucas watched still frozen to his spot as Ben was pulled back by two strong pairs of arms and thrown to the ground. He was up on his feet in a moment and trying to push his way though to the door again.

'The virus can't do this, it can't,' Lucas whispered to himself. He watched as the other men from the seaQuest tried to battle their way to the front and failed again and again.

There were too many people; six men didn't have a chance. The movement of men allowed Lucas to see the door for a second, it wouldn't hold for much longer.

Lucas looked around desperate for anything computerised. If he could get onto the system he might be able to activate the locks. But of course there was nothing, what prison would put anything where the inmates could reach it. But Lucas did see something or at least someone who could help.

Angelo lent in his cell doorway, watching the fighting with the same air of amusement that he always observed the world. Lucas didn't give himself time to think. He ran across the block.

'You can stop this!'

Angelo look down at him, 'why should I? She's just a guard.' He shrugged, 'and I have no interest in unwilling women… or unwilling men.'

'We can pay, Ben has contacts…' he trailed off as Angelo shook his head.

'I'm doing life without parole, pretty, what good would your money do me?'

The unwilling men part registered. Lucas looked down. 'You're only interested in willing… people?'

Angelo nodded. 'That's right.'

'Please, stop them.'

'And what can I expect in return?' Angelo asked.

'Whatever you want,' Lucas offered quickly and automatically. The words came to his lips without any real stop in his brain to receive instructions. He looked back over his shoulder to the men trying to break the door down.

As he turned back to him Angelo looked him up and down slowly. Lucas bit his lip, unable to meet the older man's eyes.

'If you stop them I'll do whatever you want,' he offered feeling the blush raise to his cheeks, and right at that moment that seemed worse than everything, worse than making the offer, worse than having to go to this man for help. He took a deep breath and forced himself to say it. 'If you stop them I'll do whatever you want… willingly.'

To be continued...

Hope you enjoyed the story. Please leave a review if you did - or if you didn't... I've written the last two chapters and hope to post them as soon as I've edited them properly.

Thanks for reading.

Cadi.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi everyone. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Hope everyone is still enjoying the story. As always I'm not making money and I don't own anyone.

**Chapter 7.**

'To bad you're already bought and paid for,' Angelo laughed, 'you can't sell yourself, pretty.'

'Ben will sell,' Lucas said immediately, 'a straight trade, me for her.'

'Why would you want to sell yourself to save a guard?'

Lucas heard something shattering behind him. 'That's not important, is it a deal or not?'

Angelo stepped forward and shouted for the men to stop.

When they didn't obey instantly he stepped forward and grabbed one of the men at the back of the group at random. Gripping him around the neck Angelo casually pressed until the man stopped struggling and slumped in his hold. Angelo threw him into the middle of the group.

The impact of the apparent corpse got the inmates attention. The ripples of collisions brought all the men to the floor in a tangle of limbs and swearing.

'Does anyone wish to fight me for the first rights?' Angelo asked above all the commotion.

Ben scrambled up from the pile of bodies, followed closely by Ford and the other men from seaQuest. All the other inmates stayed down where they were. The unlucky prisoner who Angelo had practiced his choke hold on stirred where he fell but he didn't attempt to rise either.

'I'll fight,' Ben announced.

Angelo examined him with obvious contempt. 'You'll lose.'

'I'll still fight,' Ben pushed his way out of the mess of inmates and squared up to Angelo. His lip was split and bleeding. Lucas saw by the way he held his right arm that it was useless. He didn't appear threatening.

Angelo smiled. 'What will you pay to buy those rights, Kreig?'

'Anything,' Ben said instantly.

'Anything?'

'Yes.'

'Then the deal is done,' Angelo announced. He turned to the other men, 'let the snowflake through.'

Lucas had a great deal of practice reading the silent messages that went back and forth between the Bridge crew on the boat. Ben glanced to Ford. This is too easy. Something isn't right. Watch him.

The door stood shut but it was no longer barred. Lucas saw the hesitation before Ben opened it. Katie was in there. She wasn't expecting a friend to walk through the door. The Commander would be ready to fight and until she recognised Ben he would be in for a lot of trouble. Rushing the door open Ben pushed inside and slammed door shut behind him.

No-one saw what happened next.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'Ben?' Katie twisted her wrist away just as the knife would have found its target.

'Hi honey, I'm home!' Ben leaned back against the wall where she pinned him. He glanced at the door. No-one could see them from this corner of the room. Seeing Katie look up he followed the direction of her gaze and saw a clear panel in the ceiling.

'The guards' station looks down through here,' she said.

'Can they see us?'

Katie shook her head. 'I don't think so.'

'Hear us?'

She shook her head again.

'Are you okay?'

His ex-wife looked him up and down. 'I'm a lot better than you.'

'But a small price to pay to capture the fair lady's hand,' Ben said and if his shoulder hadn't throbbed the way it did he would have added a flourishing bow.

Katie just looked at him. It wasn't one of the nicer looks.

'Okay, so maybe it wasn't your hands they were interested in,' Ben admitted.

'Is everyone else okay?'

'Depends on your definition…' Ben sighed and lent back against the wall. 'No. No one is okay and least of all Lucas.'

'Do I tell Bridger you guys want out?'

'He'll put him back down here on his own.'

'You think Bridger will let them?'

'Could he stop them? Can we risk it?'

'You're the one in there, it's your call,' Katie told him.

Ben sighed and shook his head. 'But keep a look out because if anything else happens we're out. I don't care if we have to kidnap Lucas to keep him safe. He's just a kid, Katie.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'I can't see what's happening,' Niven complained.

'None of us can, stop whining,' Stephens snapped.

'What's going on?' Niven asked.

Stephens glared at him.

'That's a good question, gentlemen, what is going on?'

The guards swung around from imperfect view of the partition room. The seaQuest delegation and their new medical officer stood in the door way.

'Is there a problem?' Bridger asked.

'Why don't you tell me, Captain? It seems that Commander Hitchcock's sympathies are with your revolutionaries. She's in the partition with one of them and none of us can make out what she's doing.'

The seaQuest replaced the guards at the observation window.

'One of our revolutionaries?' Bridger asked.

'Lieutenant by the name of Krieg,' Stephens said. 'The normal procedure would be to lock down and get them out. But something just smells wrong about all of this.'

'I'm not telling you how to run your facility, Commander Stephens, but the time to worry about the smell is be after you remove Commander Hitchcock from a potentially dangerous situation.'

That snapped them into action. As they rushed out they didn't see Bridger and Westphalen exchange glances.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'Would you care to explain yourself, Commander?' Stephens asked as she was brought in front of himself and Bridger.

'It appears one of the locks malfunctioned, sir.'

'And that explains how you managed to get trapped inside a secure area of the facility with one of the convicts?'

'Lieutenant Krieg and I served upon the seaQuest together for quite some time. He saw an opportunity and took it hoping to explain the actions of himself and the others.'

'And what was it?'

'What was what, sir?'

'What was his explanation, Commander?' Stephens snapped.

Katie wondered if she was doing the stupid subordinate act a bit too well. 'I couldn't really say sir. The lieutenant's explanations have never been very… explicable.'

She heard Bridger hide a chuckle behind a cough.

'I trust you were not injured, Commander.'

'Not at all, sir. I can handle far worse then lieutenant Krieg, sir.'

'I'm glad to hear that, Commander.' She wondered if the smile was supposed to look false or if he was really that bad an actor.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Lucas watched the door from across the cell block. After making quite sure that they couldn't see what was going on in the room the men had dispersed slightly. Almost everyone's attention was on the door and Angelo. Not being stared at by dozen's of pairs of eyes was a relief. But Lucas couldn't manage to feel relieved. One phrase kept circled over and over in his head. Whatever you want. Whatever you want. Willingly. Willingly. Whatever you want. Willingly. He shook his head trying to clear it.

For a moment Lucas looked away from the door. He searched for Ford but found Angelo. The door held no interest for the inmate. He leaned a little way from it and watched Lucas. Lucas met his eyes for a second and then looked quickly away. He dropped his eyes and carried on his search for Ford. The Commanders attention was all on Angelo.

The seaQuest men seemed a long way away. It wasn't that far in physical terms. Lucas knew that. He could break it down into feet and inches, into centimetres and millimetres. It wasn't that far. He could just walk back across to them. It would take seconds. He could run. That would be even faster. He could be back with the people from seaQuest and if he closed his eyes and hoped hard enough maybe, just maybe he could believe that he was back on the seaQuest.

A movement caught his eye. He looked back to Angelo. Then the door was flung open and Ben was pushed back out into the prisoners' area. He landed heavily on the floor and Lucas went over to him without any conscious thought. Was Ben okay? Was Katie okay? Was it worth the bargain he made if they were?

He knelt down next to his friend as dragged himself up into a sitting position. Ben offered a reassuring smile and Lucas tried to return it. Ben was okay and so was Katie. It had worked. He had done the right thing. No all he had to do was remember how to breathe and he would be okay.

Everything would be fine. It was a lie, but maybe it wasn't so bad a lie to tell himself.

'It's time to pay your debts, Kreig.'

Lucas watched Ben turn to face Angelo. The teeager swallowed and almost choked on the motion. He should never have… but could he really have just stood there knowing that Katie was getting hurt and that there was a way for him to stop that happening and just not take it. Could he have lived with himself if he was that person? He had done the right thing. Everyone else was safe. That was important. Breathe.

'What do you want?' Kreig asked as he pulled himself to his feet with Lucas's help.

Angelo smiled. 'Come here, pretty.'

Lucas forced himself to take a step forward. Ben put an arm out in front of him. 'What?'

'I think everyone heard you speak very clearly, less than half an hour ago. The deal was done. You said anything. You've taken your prize, and now it is time to pay.'

'No.'

'No?' Angelo asked.

'You know that I wouldn't have agreed…'

'Maybe not,' Angelo conceded, 'but you aren't the one who brokered the deal anyway.'

He looked to Lucas and everyone else turned to him too. Lucas couldn't meet Ben's eye.

'Lucas?' he asked.

'It seems he took advantage of your infatuation with the guard and decided to trade up.'

'Lucas?' Ben took hold of Lucas's chin and turned his face so he had no choice but to look him in the eye.

'It was Katie, Ben,' Lucas whispered.

'I'd advise you not to touch my property without my permission, Kreig.'

'Your… No…'

Lucas saw the looks pass between the seaQuest men. When Ben went to push him back into the middle of the group Lucas tried to shake his head. 'Ben, there's nothing you can do. Just…'

'Shut up, Lucas,' Ford snapped as he moved in front of him too.

'No-one takes kindly to someone who can't, or won't, pay his debts,' Angelo said. He nodded and all the prisoners jumped at the cue.

Ben and the others were new, and Ben in particular seemed to be having a string of good fortune that just couldn't be tolerated. It didn't take them long to have the seaQuest men on the ground and Lucas away from them.

Lucas tried to keep his footing as he was flung to the floor in front of Angelo. He looked up and saw that amused smile looking back down at him. He looked across at the others.

Ben was on his knees, it took three men to hold him there. And the others were in a similar state. Lucas couldn't look at them.

He had done the right thing. He had to remember that. It could be worse. It wouldn't be so bad. The virus would kick in soon. The biggest problem with being a genius was you were smart enough to know when someone was lying to you.

He didn't bother to try and get up from where he had landed. He didn't try to raise his eyes from the floor.

'Go and fetch your things and take them to my cell,' Angelo said without looking down at him.

Move. Yes. He had to remember how to move. Lucas knew everyone was watching him. He very slowly shifted and stood up. He kept his eyes on the floor as he went to the cell he had shared with Ben.

Then he hesitated, which one was… Angelo pointed, Lucas went to that cell. He stood in the middle of it unsure of what to do with his things or himself.

The cell was much the same as the other one had been. It didn't look like Angelo had been sharing with anyone before. Was that another one of the advantages his deal with the guards had earned him? He didn't have to share unless there was someone he wanted to-? Lucas shook his head again.

One problem at a time. Break the world down into manageable chunks. And if all else fails recite chemical equations in your head until it's all over.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

With a nod from Angelo the prisoners restraining the seaQuest men pushed them into the cell that Lucas and Ben had shared the previous night.

The other men left and Angelo lounged in the door way. It was a small cell to hold five men. He watched them for several long minutes in silence until silence descended on them too.

'I take it you have something to say?' he asked with obvious boredom.

'He's seventeen years old,' Ben said.

'And did that make any difference last night?'

Ben's eyes flashed across the room at him. 'You said yourself – that was just talk.'

Angelo shrugged. 'If nothing else he should be aware of the theory now.'

'He's a child!'

'But one old enough to take over the UEO?'

He saw the looks exchanged between them.

'Old enough to be sent here,' Angelo continued.

The men exchanged looks and he saw the nod go around them. 'As much as I would enjoy watching you all humiliate yourselves by trying to trade yourselves into his place, I do have something, or should that be someone, better to do.'

As he went out Ford caught his arm.

Angelo looked down at the move with some amusement.

'I've killed men for less than that. And one the same subject, when you traded Lucas you tried all the rights to him. If you care about him as much as you all claim to stay away from him. He's the one who will be punished if you force him to break my rules.'

'And that will be worse than what you'll do to him anyway?' Ford demanded.

'I think you are all under some misapprehension. I have no taste for unwilling toys,' Angelo told Ford, 'I won't lay a hand on him until he asks me to.

'He won't do that.'

'Oh, he will, Jonathan. Everyone does sooner or later. With the smarter ones it's usually much sooner. And you did say that the boy is a genius. He'll soon work out what's in his best interests.'

'Lucas won't.'

'I'll have him eating out of my hand in less than a day,' Angelo predicted and walked away.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'Sit.'

'Do you want me to roll over so you can tickle my belly too?' Lucas snapped, taking the chair with bad grace.

Angelo gave him a considering look. 'Maybe later…' he said, and laughed as Lucas realised what he had said and blushed.

Angelo leaned against the bunk and stared at him.

'What were you really sent here for?' Angelo asked.

'You read the file.'

'Yes, and now I want to know what the file doesn't say.'

Lucas shrugged.

'So what you meant when you said you'd do anything was that you'd do anything except answer a perfectly civil question,' Angelo observed.

Luca looked up at him. The truth was a stupid idea. At least the truth that seaQuest was part of. 'Because my father wants to dump me somewhere where he can forget about me and not have to worry that I will cause trouble.'

'So he sent you to a prison at the bottom of the ocean?' Angelo said was obvious disbelief.

'No, he sent me to a UEO submarine. That just didn't work out so well.'

'And the other men, do they have equally understanding fathers?'

'No, but they are just as good at annoying the wrong people.'

'You didn't try to take over the UEO then?'

'We were framed.'

Angelo smiled. 'You won't find a person in here who wasn't.'

Lucas stared at the table.

'So the might UEO couldn't tame a teenage boy?' Angelo asked.

Lucas shrugged.

'We shall have to see if I can do better, pretty. Maybe they just hadn't hit on the right method.'

Lucas couldn't stop the flinch. He continued to stare at the table. He couldn't bear to look up and see the humour in Angelo's eyes.

'Do you intend to do as you are told like a good little boy?'

'No.'

'That is unfortunate. You will either learn obedience, or I will sell you on,' Angelo told him. 'You will find the former a lot more pleasant.'

There was a spark of hope in Lucas's eyes, 'Ben would-'

'But, maybe it won't be Kreig that I sell you too. Maybe Buckley? Or maybe Trewin – you met him in the showers this morning? Or maybe I'll just declare open season on you…? Or rent you out by the hour?'

Lucas did look up then.

'You will do as I say, exactly as I say. You and your old friends will regret any other action.'

'What do they have to do with it?'

'You acted on their behalf when you sold yourself. You said anything. If you fail to live up to the obedience in your advertising then I will have to discuss that with them… at length. You don't want to let them down, do you?'

Lucas shook his head.

Angelo smiled. 'Then we're going to get on just fine, pretty. Just fine.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'This can't happen,' Ben said.

Ford had to consider that it wasn't the most helpful statement. Yes, it was certainly true but that wasn't the point. It wasn't helpful to state the obvious. They didn't have any time to waste. They were working to a clock.

'What are we going to do?' All the men looked to Ford. It was a good question. He was the Commander. There had to be a man with a plan and without a Captain present it had to be him.

'We'll get a message to the others and have the Captain pull the mission,' Ford said. They were all out of other options.

'How?'

'Through the doctor,' Ford said as the idea developed in his mind.

He saw them all look around each other trying to work out who was the most injured. 'I'll take the message to her myself,' Ford said.

Ben shook his head. 'You don't put the Command in danger for no good reason.'

'If an opportunity comes up to help Lucas then you will be in the best position to help him,' Ford said.

'Actually,' Tim said, 'I'm probably the best choice.'

They all looked to him. 'You'll all be more use than me in a fight and, when it comes down to it, I'm the only racial group left over. Hispanic, black, Asian, Ben's already white. I'm of no strategic use to the group.'

They all exchanged looks. Tim took his glasses off and put them up on the bunk. 'Hit me.'

'What?'

'I won't get in the see the doctor as I am. You'll have to make my injuries significantly worse first.'

'No!' The protest was instinctive.

'It's the only way this will work,' Tim said with more calm than he felt right then.

'You can't just expect us to hit you!' Miguel.

'You have to make it look good. I was the kid with glasses who got good grades and like languages. Trust me, one more beating won't do me any harm.' He looked around at unconvinced faces. 'I'll end up a lot less hurt than Lucas will be.'

In the end that was what swung opinion around to his way of thinking. 'Just make sure you tell the good Doc that this was in now way my idea. I don't think she'll take kindly to one of her charges turning up on her doorstep beaten black and blue even if it is in a good cause,' Ben said.

Tim stayed still and didn't try to defend himself. A little while later he looked at his reflection in one of the pieces of metal. It wasn't a clear image, although a lot of that might be down to the swelling in his eye.

'You know what you need to do?' Ford checked.

Tim nodded. His head throbbed when he moved it but at the moment that hurt less than working his jaw.

Ben helped him out and across to the guard on duty above them.

'He needs to see the Doctor,' Ben called up to the guard as he looked down at them from the platform.

'He looks okay to me,' he guard drawled back down.

'Are you crazy?' Ben asked. 'He's hurt. He needs to see the doctor.'

'This ain't some navy submarine. He'll just have to learn to tough it out like the rest of the cons. Or else you'll just have to learn how to treat your replacement toy better, won't you?'

Ford went over and stopped Ben before he could say anything else. It wasn't easy to see how this could be made worse and Ford wasn't eager to find out just how the guards would punish them for insubordination.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Back in the cell at lock down that night Angelo nodded to the lower bunk. 'If you are good you can sleep there, otherwise you'll be on the floor.'

Lucas looked at the bunk and then to the floor. He was so tired. It wasn't as if not being in a bed would change anything anyway. He lay down on the bed. As much as he wanted to sleep he knew he wouldn't be able to. He hugged his arms around himself and watched Angelo move about the room. Then Angelo hoisted himself easily up onto the top bunk.

Lucas waited as the guards went passed. They didn't even look in; they didn't say anything to Angelo. It was amazing just how much respect he demanded, and received from everyone, including the guards. Or maybe especially the guards. What had the others said? His victims of choice had been police officers. That would have to give any man in a uniform some food for thought.

He stared up at the bottom of the top bunk. Telling himself not to think about anything wasn't helping at all. It wasn't as if he had anything else to think about anyway. He made his best effort. The virus was in. There was no reason for anyone to go looking for it. Unless his father told people to look. He should. His father had to know his own son well enough to know he would try something.

But, unless Lawrence decided to look himself, they probably wouldn't find it. He had been working at a rush but still, they wouldn't be looking where he had put it. It wasn't a logical location. Even his father would be unlikely to guess at his plan. Maybe they would start looking after everything began to take effect, but by then it would be too late.

Of course the plan wasn't perfect. And Lawrence wasn't an idiot. He could make things very difficult for the plan to run smoothly for them. There weren't any safe guards in place around the escape route at the moment, but there was time for him to put them in just in case. Even if he didn't know what the plan was he could just throw every protection he could think of at the prison to ensure that no routes, even the most unlikely ones, existed.

If the plan worked then Lawrence would not be happy. It was a fine balance. On the one hand a certain amount of unhappiness was a fact that Lucas had learnt to live with over the years. There was a low level contempt in his father's treat of him and his successes and Lucas had stopped really expecting to please the man years ago. It was impossible. Maybe if it wasn't him who Lucas was competing with then maybe Lawrence would be… proud of him.

That would be a nice feeling. Of course he could only imagine what that would feel like it.

'What are you thinking, pretty?'

Lucas looked around. Angelo stood next to the bed leaning against the fixed table. Lucas jerked and only just stopped hitting his head on the bunk above him. When had he…

Lucas looked up at him. He tried to catch his breath.

'I asked you a question, pretty. You know my opinions on having to repeat myself.'

'My father. I was thinking about my father,' Lucas said with honest born of pure fear.

'And what were you thinking about him?'

'That…'

'I said,' Angelo began to repeat.

'That I'd like to know what it would feel like if he was proud of me,' Lucas bit out. 'Okay, that's what I was thinking. I don't know what it would feel like and I don't have enough imagination to pretend.'

Angelo looked down at him. 'And what are you thinking now?'

'The truth?' Lucas asked.

'I don't react well to lies.'

'I want to know what you want, what you expect me to…'

Angelo looked down at him for several seconds. 'What do you think I want?'

Lucas looked down. He wasn't as much a child as everyone assumed. He knew but he couldn't bring himself to say the words. 'What Ben was talking about last night,' he settled for.

Angelo laughed. 'Are you really that much of an innocent, child?'

Lucas blushed.

'You are,' Angelo laughed again with increased amusement. 'Are you a virgin in every sense of the word?'

Lucas said nothing.

'Answer me, pretty.'

'Yes,' Lucas bit out.

'And you're seventeen?' Angelo asked.

'You tell me, you've read the file,' Lucas snapped, 'right?'

'You think you are in a position to ask me questions?' Angelo asked.

'I think my screwed whatever I do so there's no point pretending otherwise,' Lucas said.

'So your spirit isn't quite dead then, that's good to know pretty. Now tell me, do you think yourself in love with her?'

'Who?'

'As far as I know there is only one woman we both know of. The guard, what is her name?'

'Commander,' Lucas said.

'No, child, as I'm sure an experienced sailor like yourself knows that is her rank. I want her name.'

'Why?'

'You're asking questions again.'

'Hitchcock,' Lucas said.

'A name with so many possibilities… and the first name to go with it?'

'I just called her Commander Hitchcock.'

'That isn't the same as saying that you don't know her first name.'

Lucas sighed. 'Kathleen,' he said. He wasn't going to call her Katie to him.

Angelo nodded. 'And what is Katie to you?'

Lucas's eyes snapped up to his use of the contraction.

'I'm not deaf, child.'

'You knew?'

'Certainly.'

'Then why…'

'You need to learn obedience, pretty. There are other ways to teach you if this method doesn't find favour.'

Lucas shook his head.

'What is she to Kreig?'

'They had a thing,' Lucas said.

'I think you will find its called sex,' Angelo said.

Lucas blushed again.

'That's it, they just had a fling?'

Lucas tried to remember what would be shown on their records. How much did Angelo know already? How much of this was a trap?

'They were married,' Lucas admitted.

'When?'

'I don't know, they don't really talk about it much,' that was the truth.

'You're learning already, pretty,' Angelo said. He got back up onto the bunk above him.

Lucas started to breath a little easier.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

When Lucas woke up Angelo was sitting at the table opposite him at the table watching him sleep. Lucas looked around disorientated.

'Sleep well?'

Lucas nodded slowly. He had slept well. The stress and the complete lack of sleep from the previous night had caught up with him. He had slept through since Angelo had gone back up to the top bunk. Admitting that felt wrong. He shouldn't have slept easy with Angelo just a few feet above him.

When the buzzer sounded and the doors unsealed Angelo went out and Lucas followed him.

'Stay close pretty. Give me the impression that you'll stray and I'll put you on a leash,' he saw Lucas's expression. 'Call if you think I'm bluffing.'

Lucas decided not to.

He saw the others come out of their cells. None of them looked like they had slept at all the previous night.

As soon as they saw him they came across. Lucas saw the silent exchange that went on between Angelo and Ford.

The bridge on the seaQuest had been very educational. Angelo had the same look Bridger used when he really wasn't in the mood to tolerate insubordination. Ben obviously wasn't looking as hard as either Ford or Lucas because he didn't stop until Ford caught hold of his arm and forcibly stopped him.

Angelo smiled. 'Would you like to have breakfast with your old friends, pretty?' he asked.

'Yes,' Lucas said, he thought for a moment. The word stuck in his throat but he said it anyway, 'please.'

'Good boy,' Angelo praised. 'You'll be well trained yet. You may go and invite them here.'

Lucas hesitated. That hadn't been what he had in mind at all. A look to Angelo confirmed that was not news to the older man.

It was too big a risk to stay and talk to them. Lucas was acutely aware of Angelo watching him from across the room. Lucas issued the invitation and went back to Angelo.

No one seemed inclined to start any trouble now that he belonged to Angelo and the showers were a lot easier that day.

When they went into the food hall Lucas took his bowl of gruel the same as the rest of the men did. Angelo was handed a different plate as he passed the hatch.

Angelo chose his table and sat down. Lucas went to sit at another seat but Angelo put his leg out and blocked his path. Lucas stopped. It was that or trip.

'You sit here,' he nodded to the floor at his feet.

'What?'

'Sit down before I make it very uncomfortable for you to sit for a very long time,' Angelo said.

Lucas hesitated but ultimately sat. He looked up just in time to see the other men approach.

Angelo indicated the chairs opposite him. Their attention was divided evenly between Lucas and Angelo. Lucas couldn't stand it after a while. He had to say something, he had to show the other men that he might be sitting at Angelo's feet but he was not broken.

'How come you get proper food?' he asked sullenly.

'I've made arrangements with the guards,' Angelo told them all.

He cut one of the fresh nectarines from his plate into eighths.

Noticing Lucas's expression as he tasted a spoonful of the gruel he looked back to the other men and then smiled and held out a portion of the fruit. Lucas reached out to take it. Fresh food seemed a long time ago now. He had never been one to eat much but the idea of living on this gruel wasn't appealing. It was even worse than what he ate on the boat. Lucas's finger almost reached it but Angelo pulled it away from him at the last moment. Confused eyes met his and hardened as Lucas realised the man wanted to feed him like some damn pet.

'You have to eat something,' Angelo informed him.

'I'm not hungry?' Lucas said, turning away from the offering hand.

'Tell me, Jonathan; was he this disobedient while you were on seaQuest?'

The threat was veiled, but at the word disobedient Lucas's eyes rose to see Angelo staring at him and knew that the threat was very real. He considered his options. There weren't really any to choose from. What was really worse? A little bit of humiliation here and now or whatever Angelo would decide to use as punishment against him if he tried to rebel.

It wouldn't kill him to make a fool of himself.

Angelo held out the piece of fruit out again and Lucas forced himself to lean forward across the table and take the piece of nectarine with his teeth.

'Eating out of my hand,' Angelo praised, 'good boy.'

Lucas saw something pass between Ford and Angelo but from where he had he hadn't been able to catch the exchange well enough to read it.

'We want to discuss… buying Lucas back,' Ford said.

'He's not for sale.'

'We have contacts.'

'You have nothing that I want.'

'You haven't heard our offer.'

'I don't need to.'

Ben and Ford looked at each other. 'We'd like to talk to Lucas.'

Angelo nodded, 'certainly.' Lucas saw the relief and then he saw it disappear as he continued. 'Talk away.'

'In private,' Ford expanded.

'Now that is of course not possible. I would hardly be a responsible owner if I allowed others the chance to play with my toys.'

'He is not your toy!' Ben snapped.

'He is whatever I say he is,' Angelo said calmly. 'Pretty here isn't going to leave my side so if you want to talk to him you're going to have to talk to me too.'

Lucas saw Ford considering his options.

Angelo smiled. 'You aren't leaving this prison without me.'

To be continued...

Thank you for reading. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. Only one chapter left to post. I'll try to edit it and get it on the site by the end of the month.

Cadi.


	8. Chapter 8

Hi everyone,

Sorry this is very rough. I'm so caught up in original fiction at the moment, that I've reached the point where I know the only way the story is going to be finished in any fashion, is to just post it as it is.

Thanks to everyone for reading this and all the other stories I've posted over the years. This is the final chapter. Hope you like it.

**Chapter 8.**

All eyes turned to Lucas. It wasn't as if they could have blamed him for using whatever chips he had but still…

'Nice show of faith, guys,' he muttered.

Angelo smiled.

'You were guessing?' Ben asked. It was obviously too late to bluff now.

'I've spent the majority of my life in and out of these facilities,' Angelo said. 'I know an escape party when I see one. It was obvious as soon as you stepped in here. You're supposed to be the best there is, maybe you have a chance and what do I have to lose anyway.'

'So we do have something you want?' Ben said.

'No, Ben, I have something you want,' he stroked Lucas's hair. 'If you want to take pretty with you then you take me too. Of course, you could just leave him here with me, that would be fun too.'

'If, for the sake of argument we were planning something,' Ben said slowly, 'and if we were to include you in our plans, we want Lucas back.'

'And I will return him to you when we are all free men,' Angelo said, 'until then, he stays with me.'

Ford's eyes didn't waver from his. 'That isn't acceptable.'

Angelo shrugged. 'So leave without him.'

Ford looked at Lucas. There really wasn't anything he could do; Lucas knew that as well as the rest of them.

'And what guarantee can you give us that Lucas will be well treated while he is with you?' Ford asked.

'You want a guarantee?' Angelo asked with some amusement.

'Yes,' Ford didn't blink.

Angelo considered him for several long seconds. 'You may have my word. While the child is obedient I won't harm him.'

Ford looked to Lucas. Obedience wasn't one of his stronger qualities. Lucas smiled a little under the truth of it.

'And if he is disobedient?' Ford asked.

'Then he will be punished however I see fit,' Angelo said. 'You'll find he will be reluctant to be disobedient twice.'

Ben's knuckles turned white. 'When we get out of here, if I find out you have put one hand on him,' he began.

Ford put a hand on his shoulder when he would have stood up. 'Can we understand that won't happen?' he asked.

'While he is obedient,' Angelo allowed.

It wasn't much of a reassurance. Ford could do nothing but nod his acceptance. The word of a murderer wasn't much but it was the only thing he had.

'Are you okay?' he asked Lucas.

Lucas nodded. 'I'm fine.'

'He hasn't hurt you?'

Lucas blushed and shook his head.

Ford nodded to Angelo and forced a smile. 'Welcome to the team.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

While it was possible the seaQuest crew stayed as close as they could to Lucas.

'Is it me or is it hot in here?' Miguel asked. The sweat was pouring off all of them and it wasn't nerves. He wiped the sweat off his forehead. All the inmates looked uncomfortable.

'Is it always like this here?' Ford asked Angelo.

Angelo shook his head. 'It's nice to get a bit of variety; the environmental controls are usually static. I haven't been this warm since I went down the last time.'

The others shifted uncomfortably in their clinging uniforms. Angelo was the only one who seemed to be enjoying the heat, everyone else looked miserable. They watched as a few of the inmates went over to the guard on patrol above the exercise yard. They were obviously complaining. They moved away when the guard charged his baton. The guard didn't look like he was enjoying the conditions either.

They were just about to leave the exercise yard when the temperature dropped dramatically. One moment it was boiling and the next the sweat was cooling on their skin and chilling them through.

'You had to ask for variety?' Ben grumbled as he put the over shirt he had taken off back on.

Angelo shrugged. Lucas thought back to the shower. The cold water hadn't fazed him a bit and neither had the heat. What was the man made out of?

He wrapped his arms around his torso and tried to look like he didn't know what was going on. It wouldn't do to let anyone suspect that that wasn't the case at all.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

It was a long night with the temperature rushing up and down the degrees without any sort of pattern or reason.

'And nothing like this has happened before?' Bridger asked as they watched one of the guards sigh over the environmental controls.

'There must be some sort of bug throwing the system but I can't find it anywhere,' the guard said. 'We'll have to get someone in.'

'We'll you'd better do it quick,' one of the other guards snapped. 'They're getting jumpy already. We'll have a riot on our hands before too long.'

'From the guards or the prisoners?' Westphalen asked under her breath. Bridger turned the laugh into a cough and tried to look innocent when the guards turned to look at him.

The seaQuest party wondered away from the others. 'You still haven't seen any sign of them since the incident with Ben?'

'They've moved me away from any direction contact with the prisoners. I've been stuck in the office doing paper work all day.'

Crocker saw the look on the Captain's face. 'Cap, if they need us they can always get to see the Doctor, right?'

Bridger nodded. Right then it was just about the only thought that was keeping him on this side of the bars when all he wanted to do was be in there with his men.

'I've set up to start on the medical check ups but the guards are pushing for the existing in-mates to be seen first. It does make sense and I don't have any reason to insist on seeing the newer men sooner. Unless they send some sort of message my hands are tied by UEO protocalls. I don't want to attract any unnecessary attention to them in case it will spoil some plan that they are working on.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'It's about time,' the guard muttered as a harassed looking man was lead off a shuttle and directly to the environmental controls.

It was amazing just how slowly the man worked. Of course it wasn't fair to compare him to Lucas, it wasn't fair to compare anyone sitting at a computer with Lucas but still. How long could it take to find one bug in an environmental controls system?

Bridger pulled his coat around his shoulders more firmly and put his hands in his pockets. It hadn't been this cold when they went down to the Antarctic. A shiver ran though his in spite of the extra layers.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Lucas shivered and tried to look like he hadn't. Angelo looked towards him anyway.

'Cold?' he asked.

Lucas glowered at him. 'You're not?'

Angelo smiled. 'Temperature is just a state of mind.'

Lucas tried not to let his teeth chatter loudly enough to be heard by anyone else. 'It's a state of fact. Vibration of atoms, heat energy, convection, conduction, radiation. It is not a state of mind.'

They walked down towards the shower block. There was ice beginning to form in one corner where the excess water had accumulated.

State of mind, yeah, right!

Lucas reluctantly took off his clothes as slowly as possible and now it wasn't about the looks the other men were giving him. He shivered. Hot water was the thing he kept reminding him. Hot water would be worth it.

They all walked slowly into the shower section. Lucas went to one of the shower heads and turned the water on.

He jumped back. So the water system was also controlled by the environmental controls. It shouldn't come as that much of a surprise. A glance over his shoulder saw Angelo standing under another shower head. Some of them must be fed by a different system to the others and as Lucas looked around it seemed that that half of the showers were being fed hot water.

Of course all of that side was full now that everyone else had working that out too, and there was a queue forming for them. The freezing cold water that had poured over him dripped onto the floor. There was nothing he could do but shiver as he waited.

It was just his sort of luck that he had ended up on the side that froze while Angelo stood under the steaming water. Angelo turned and looked at him standing at the back of the queue.

'Come here, pretty,' he called.

Everyone turned to look at Lucas. The men waiting for the showers parted slightly to let him through. No one wanted to get in the way of one of Angelo's orders. Lucas forced himself to go forward.

Angelo pushed him under the hot spray. 'You're no use to me with hyperthermia,' he said sharply.

Lucas blushed as the other men laughed but at least he was starting to warm now. The hot water felt close to scalding but he couldn't bring himself to step out of the sudden and wonderful warmth.

He just stood there and let the heat wash over him for a long time before he reached for the soap. On the positive side there was no way they would be able to hold out much longer. The guards would have to do something to fix things soon or there really would be a riot.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'How complicated can it be?' Stephens snapped. 'I thought you were supposed to be some sort of expert!'

'I am!' the computer expert complained. 'There is nothing wrong with the programme. I've run every diagnostic that I can think of. There's nothing there to fix!'

'Then why are we freezing to death down here?' Stephens demanded.

The expert started half a dozen different sentences and then stopped each time. He didn't have any sort of explanation. 'It doesn't make any sense,' he complained.

Bridger was watching the exchange with cold interest. 'I wonder how long it would take Lucas?' he whispered to Westphalen.

'What was that?' Stephens asked, he caught sight of the look on Bridger's face and added, 'sir.'

'Our former computer expert was something of a genius. I was wondering how long it would have taken him to fix this.'

'It's a pity he isn't down here so we could find out,' Stephens said.

Bridger smiled. 'He is, Commander. Lucas Wolenczak, he's one of your newest inmates.'

'The kid?'

Bridger nodded. 'The kid.'

'You think he could fix this?'

Bridger looked his disbelief. 'I've never found a computer problem that he couldn't fix,' Bridger said, 'although he is a teenager so don't expect him to be too helpful if you don't make it worth his while.'

Stephens and a few of the guards exchanged looks. 'I'm sure we can convince him that it is in the best interests of everyone here that he chose to help us out with this.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'Okay, kid. Let's see what you've got,' Stephen's said as he put Lucas in the chair in front of the computer that ran the environmental controls. He took the hand cuffs off him.

Lucas made a slight show of rubbing his wrists as he brought them back around in front of him. There wasn't anything much to do except fiddle with things for a long as he thought necessary before he turned back to them. And because he was still Lucas he said, 'I thought you said you'd had an expert look at this?'

'Meaning?'

'If the guy couldn't see the problem and the solution he's an idiot. This is easy.'

'Then fix it,' Stephens bit out.

Luca looked back to the screen. 'That brings me to why he probably chose not to tell you.'

'Kid,' Stephens warned.

One of the things about Angelo was that by comparison he made everyone else far less intimidating than they would otherwise be. What could the guard really do to him that was that bad, right here in front of Bridger and Crocker and the others?

'You need to fix the intermediary control boxes. That's where the problem is.'

'So?' Stephens asked.

'The stuff you've insulated them with, only an idiot would want to work around that stuff. It's lethal. This section here,' he brought up a map and pointed to a section near the hatches, 'that's where these controls are. Now, no-one is supposed to need to get at them, so they can use lower grade insulation around them. It hasn't got to be tested for safety standards or anything like that. I wouldn't like to be the poor idiot who has to go and mess around in that stuff looking for the control boxes. They must have been faulty when they were installed. The system could contain the fluctuations for so long but then just cracked under the strain.'

'It looks like we have a volunteer,' Stephens said. He put his hand on Lucas's shoulder. Lucas forced himself not the wriggle away from it.

'As much as I would love to help out, this isn't a one man job. You need at least six, more like seven men on it. I'm good, guys, but I don't have fourteen hands. I can't correct all the boxes at the same time and I can't read values at different ends of a room at the same time either. Looks like you'll just have to wait until the repair team gets here,' he said smugly.

'That'll take days.'

'Not my problem, unless you guys want to volunteer to help out?'

Did he actually have to hit the man over the head with the idea? He waited impatiently for him to suggest the blindingly obvious.

Stephens smiled evilly.

Finally!

'I think the rest of your little friends might enjoy a little outing, don't you kid?'

Lucas tried to look worried rather than relieved. 'Did I mention the protective clothing you need to work with this stuff? It would be just as quick to get a team down here.'

Stephens smiled. 'I'm sure a smart boy like you will be able to work something out.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'So what he said was true?' Bridger asked the expert.

The expert looked up from the plans. 'It does seem to be the case,' he allowed cautiously.

'So they can fix this?' Stephens asked.

The expert nodded again. 'From what I can gather about the last minute adaptations that were made to the facility after the plans I was able to access were drawn up, yes. Of course you couldn't leave them in this area unguarded, there would have to be a guard with them and I don't think you'll find any volunteers for that job.'

Stephens looked across at Katie. 'Sounds like a job for the newby,' he said.

'Yes, sir,' she couldn't bring herself to be surprised. She had expected to be getting the jobs no-one else wanted anyway. She exchanged a look with Bridger, of course they both knew that Lucas and the others were planning something, the only question was what.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'Wolenczak, the rest of you, report over here. We've got a nice little job for you.'

They went. The rest of the guys still looked confused but that was only to be expected while Lucas refused to give them any information.

Angelo went over with them.

The guard looked at him and hesitated. 'I don't have your name down as a member of the work party,' he said.

'I'm volunteering,' Angleo said, he looked to Lucas and the guard smile thinking that he understood what was being said to him. Angelo wasn't about to send his newest acquisition off into another part of the complex without some supervision.

As they went through into the guards section of the complex the guards lined next to them with their batons charged. A few cast worried glances towards Angelo.

Before they entered the room one of the guards stepped forward and hand cuffed Lucas's wrists behind his back. 'You know, fixing things like computers is best done with your hands,' he snapped.

'Guess you'll just have to tell them what to do,' the nod was carefully made towards the other men with no attempt to include Angelo in the motion.

'It will take forever,' Lucas complained in his best "I'm a teenager, I'm supposed to be difficult," voice.

'Then we won't bother to check on you for a while,' Niven said with a look towards Katie.

'That's a really lame excuse to avoid getting contaminated with this stuff,' Lucas told him.

One of the guards charged his baton, Angelo shifted his position ever so slightly and he lowered it back to his side.

Lucas smiled sweetly at the guard.

As they went into the designated room Angelo shook his head. 'We're you this much of a brat when you were on the boat?'

'Yes,' Lucas said.

'I'm surprised your Captain put up with you for so long then.'

The other men exchanged looks. 'So am I,' Lucas said softly.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Katie looked at the various men in the room. Of course there was no way that this was going to go well. She knew that and she would have to guess that all the guards on duty knew that too.

You don't put one guard in a small room with seven prisoners expecting her to guard them. If she were honest with herself she would have to admit that if Angelo wasn't there she wouldn't even have bothered going through the motions of being overpowered.

His being there did complicate things. He didn't know it was just a sick game.

She and Ben had spared enough over the years that the moves were almost choreographed. She let Ben move her so she was pinned against the wall and let the baton drop from her finger tips.

'How about you be a good little girl and no-one gets hurt?' he asked.

It was just the wrong time to be patronising. Katie had reached her limit on idiots a long time ago. She brought her knee up sharply and Ben dropped.

The other men looked towards her and she looked back. She wouldn't give any of them odds against her right then.

'Hi, Katie,' Ford offered.

'Commander,' she said with a nod.

'She was in on this the whole time?' Angelo asked. He hadn't moved from his stance against the wall.

Ford looked to him, 'something like that.'

'That explains why pretty here was so taken with the idea of protecting her,' Angelo mused.

'Lucas?' Katie asked.

Angelo smiled. 'Is there anything you want to tell the nice lady, pretty?'

Lucas stared at the wall opposite him. There was a flash of light and then a beep. He brought his hands around in front of him.

'Another trick you learnt in Juvenile Hall?' Angelo asked, willing to be distracted for a few moments.

'You were in juvie?' Ben asked, 'when?' He could see that Lucas had no intention of discussing the trade he had made there and then and was more than willing to add to the distractions.

Lucas ignored him.

'Answer the man, pretty,' Angelo ordered.

Lucas shot Angelo a dark look through his lashes.

'Yes, I was in juvie, a few years ago.'

'What did you do?'

Lucas glanced at Angelo and knew that he had to answer. 'Hacked into someone's secure computer,' he said.

'You hacked in to a secure computer?'

'You got caught?' Ben asked at the same time.

'I didn't get caught as such, I wasn't trying to cover my tracks. I needed to give someone a message and I couldn't get hold of them, so I hacked in and left the message. The wrong person got the message, knew someone had hacked in and panicked. They called the police, I got arrested.'

'Who's computer?' Angelo asked.

Lucas shrugged.

'I assume they have a name?' he prompted.

'Most people do?'

'What was his name?'

'Lawrence.'

'Lawrence what?' Angelo was losing patience.

Ben looked at the uncomfortable look on the teenagers face and answered for him. 'Lawrence Wolenczak.'

'How long were you in for?' Angelo asked.

'A few weeks, until my father came back from his conference.'

'How bad was it?' Ben asked.

'You want to know if I got beaten up? Yes, OK, I did. A lot.'

'What did your father say when he found out?' Angelo asked.

'You're a genius, Lucas. You should be able to take care of yourself,' as he had spoken he had moved across to a panel and started to take it off the wall.

'What are you doing?' Ford asked.

'Fixing the environmental controls,' Lucas said over his shoulder as he tapped into the terminal that had been behind the panel.

'I thought this was supposed to be an escape plan?' Angelo said.

'It is. I'm just fixing this before we go.'

'And when do you intend to tell us how we are going to leave?' Angelo asked.

'If you would stop interrupting then this will go a lot faster.'

'If you would be an obedient little pet and tell us what is going on then I wouldn't need to keep asking.'

Lucas spun around. 'Make up your mind. Do you want an escape artist or a pet? I can't be both at the same time. If you want to get out of here you're just going to have to shut up and trust me. If you can't do that then you'll just have to rot down here. Make your choice. We are leaving; you can't threaten me with anything anymore.'

Everyone held their breath. Lucas seemed to come back to himself and he took a deep breath himself.

Angelo raised an eyebrow. They all watched as Lucas looked down and blinked very slowly. 'Let's just get out of here,' he said.

Ben and Katie exchanged looks. 'And how do we do that, Lucas?' Katie asked carefully.

Lucas turned back to the panel and closed it up, and then he turned to another panel and undid that. He stood back and looked at them all. 'You just go straight through there.'

'As simple as that?'

Lucas nodded. 'It's a panic room, he always puts one in. He never marks them on the plans though. I doubt anyone knows it's here but that shaft will lead straight to the launch bay.'

'And what about the codes and the…' Ford trailed off as he saw Lucas's expression.

'That's all been taken care of,' he said.

They all seemed at a loss for what to do. It was too easy. 'What's the catch?'

Lucas shrugged. 'There's no catch. This isn't a secure area. There is no reason why anyone would try to break out of this room. There was no reason to make it secure from the launch bay. It's just a conduit room.'

'Won't the guards know?' Ben asked.

'They're dealing with a kid and a hand full of sailors; they aren't expecting us to actually know what we're doing.'

Miguel hesitated and then went to the shaft. He crouched down and crawled inside it. A few moments later he came back. He looked to Lucas. 'He's right; it goes straight to the launch bay.'

They went though one at a time. The launch still had an open connection to the main dive area. There wasn't even a guard on duty. What would have been the point when there weren't any prisoners in this part of the facility? That was the trouble, Lucas thought. People got lazy. They thought that they were so good that no-one would ever be able to get past the first line of defence and then there was no reason to have any further lines.

His father had spent too long in the board room and had forgotten a lot of the lessons that Lucas still played by every day in the hacking community. Never doubt your opponent.

'Will they know when we debark?' Miguel asked.

Lucas shook his head and slumped into one of the seats.

'For a free man you don't look very happy,' Angelo said.

Lucas saw Ben looking at him from across the launch. 'What's not to be happy about?' he asked.

'You were expecting this to be more difficult weren't you?'

Lucas shrugged. 'I thought that there might have been a few extra protocols put in place recently,' he said as if he didn't care, Ben knew better than that.

When Anglo moved away slightly Ben went across and sat next to Lucas. Angelo turned back to watch them but he didn't appear worried by their closeness.

'You're father's an idiot,' he told him.

'Like father like son,' Lucas whispered.

'You outsmarted him,' Ben tried to cheer him up.

Lucas shrugged and looked at the wall.

'Don't try to tell me that you didn't enjoy getting one over on your old man!' Ben teased.

'Maybe it would have been nice if he thought I was worth fighting,' Lucas said.

'Fighting?'

'He didn't put up a fight, Ben. It was so easy. He could have… there were so many things he could have done to make this impossible and he didn't do any of them. The only reason why he wouldn't bother is if he didn't think I was worth fighting.'

'Maybe he just…'

'Ben, if you going to send me in there what sort of precautions would you take against my breaking out?'

Ben thought, 'I don't know, kid, it's not as if…'

'Don't lie to me!' Lucas snapped.

'I'd have issued orders to stop you coming into contact with anything computerised, no exceptions,' Ford said from across the launch. 'Traditional restraints with no computerised locking mechanism. If at all possible I would have found a cell with old fashioned bars rather than a field. I would have restricted access with the guards in case you talked any of them into helping you and as little contact with the other prisoners as possible.'

Lucas nodded. 'He didn't even bother to put a note in my file to tell them that I was a hacker. It would have taken minutes. He didn't bother because I'm not worth it to him. He just assumed that he could win without even trying.'

That last bit had come out a lot louder than he had planned. Everyone was staring at him. He turned back to stare at the wall.

'Did you know Bridger has put censors all around the conduits leading to mammal engineering?' Ford asked.

That caught Lucas's attention. He smiled a little and nodded.

'You know?' Ford asked in obvious surprise.

Lucas shrugged. 'I know the wiring on seaQuest better than anyone. New things don't turn up with me noticing.'

'Are they still active?'

Lucas nodded.

'Does Bridger know you know?'

Lucas shook his head. 'He'll probably guess when he sees the modifications I've made to them.'

'He thought you sneaked out when you were grounded.'

'I still do,' Lucas said.

'He also has a special system that records how long you spend in your room to make sure you actually remember to leave it those rare times you aren't grounded.'

'I've bypassed it.'

'I think he knows that too,' Ford said. 'That's why he comes to check on you so often. He knows your smart enough to work out a way to do anything that you want to do badly enough.'

'It's a pity my Dad doesn't know the same,' Lucas said.

'Your Dad or your father?' Ben asked.

Lucas didn't respond.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Bridger didn't smile.

'It's a locked room!' Stephens stormed. 'This is not a freaking Sherlock Holmes mystery. People do not disappear from locked rooms! Find them!'

Bridger walked around the room examining the walls and panels carefully.

'What are you doing?' Stephens snapped.

Captain Bridger raised an eyebrow at the Commander.

'Sir,' Stephens finished.

'When you eliminate the improbable, whatever left, however implausible must be the truth.'

'What?'

'Sherlock Holmes, Commander. If they didn't leave through the door then they must have found another way out of the room.' He continued his careful inspection.

'I bet that bitch was in on it,' Niven said.

'Commander Hitchcock?' Bridger asked.

'I knew there was something about her that I couldn't trust,' Niven went on.

'Commander Hitchcock is an outstanding officer and a credit to her uniform. And if I were to question anyone's abilities it would be those who thought one guard in a closed room with seven convicts was a good idea. Exactly how many standard protocols was that breaking.'

'I…' Niven began.

'You played right into their hands,' Bridger said. Lucas wasn't going to shut up about this for weeks! It was a small price to pay for getting the boy out of here safely and it would be a very enjoyable message to send to his father but still. There was no way that Bridger was going to go back to the boat until he could at least show a belated understanding of how he had accomplished the feat.

He began to take those panels that were removable off the walls. There were several conduits leaving the room.

'It appears we have found our escape route,' he told Stephens.

Stephens bit back whatever he had been about to say, 'yes, sir.'

'And,' Bridger prompted.

'Sir?'

'You aren't going to find them if you don't follow the ducts,' he said.

'Sir, they could lead anywhere… and they could have been gone for…'

'I suggest that you try to catch up with them, then.'

Stephens sent some of the men along the tunnels with bad grace.

A little while later one of the men came back through. 'Well?'

The man said nothing.

'Did you find them?' Stephens demanded.

Bridger and Crocker exchanged looks, it he was already descending into the trap of stupid questions then this was going to go very bad very quickly.

'The launch is gone, sir.'

'What do you mean gone!'

Bridger couldn't resist this temptation to smile.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'What did he mean when he said that Lucas was protecting me?' Katie asked Ford.

Ford looked at the sensors and tried to work out what to say.

'Ford,' Katie warned.

'When he found out that you were trapped in there he went to him for help.'

'Why him?'

'Because he was the only one who would be able to stop the other men getting in there,' Ford knew that she would find out the truth sooner or later.

'What aren't you telling me?' Katie demanded.

'He traded himself for you.'

'What!' Everyone turned to look at her, saw that whatever they were talking about didn't need any third parties and pretended not to have heard the exclamation. 'You mean, he…' he waved a hand towards Angelo.

'I don't know what happened,' Ford said. 'Lucas says that he didn't lay a hand on him.'

'Is he telling the truth?'

'It's Lucas, Katie. How is anyone supposed to know with him? There's nothing we can do about it now except take his word for it until the Captain gets back to the boat. He might be able to get something out of him but I know I can't.'

'How bad was it in there?'

Ford's features hardened. 'Lucas got the worse of it. And Ben, it wasn't easy for him either.'

'Ben?' Katie asked. Yes, her former husband was an idiot but he was still Ben.

'Don't give him too hard a time, okay?' Ford asked.

Katie went quiet at that. If Ford was bargaining on Ben's behalf then it must have been bad.

'What about you? All fun and games?'

'Games, sure. They weren't very funny. Nothing new to them though.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'What is the next stage of your plan?' Angelo asked out of the blue.

Everyone went silent.

'You do have a next stage to your plan?' Angelo asked.

They all automatically looked to Lucas.

'We're meeting up with a container vessel a little way from here. We'll have safe passage to wherever we need to go from there.'

'Vessel?' Angelo asked.

'Our own special tribute to the seaQuest,' Lucas said.

'You named your get away submarine after your last post?' Angelo asked.

'Well, I thought the stinger would have been a better name.'

'Gazelle,' Katie said automatically. Their eyes met for a moment across the launch.

'I think it's probably for the best none of you tried to use your imaginations,' Angelo said as he heard the alternatives.

'Quick thinking,' Ben said as he sat back down next to Lucas.

Lucas shrugged and resumed his silent thoughts.

He stayed perfectly quiet as they docked. He didn't even say anything when a syringe full of aesthetic went into Angelo's neck and the man fell to the floor as easily as his father's security system had fallen with the slightest nudge.

The others looked across to him, but there weren't any words in his head right then. It was over, and that was it. He watched Angelo being stretchered out of the launch bay feeling entirely numb.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'I thought children were supposed to bring home stray pets not convicts,' Westphalen chided as she looked around her ward at the waiting patients.

'It's not as if we want to adopt him,' Ford tried to explain.

'But you just couldn't leave him there?'

'It was a tactical decision. A military decision,' he tried.

'Proving once more that military intelligence is an oxymoron.'

Lucas smiled. Westphalen turned on him. 'Do you really think this is funny, young man?'

Lucas shook his head and tried his best to look suitably subdued.

'Whose fault is it, exactly, that you are all running a fever with a chill?'

'It worked,' Lucas muttered.

'Hyperthermia is no laughing matter,' she told him. 'And what about you?' she turned on Tim. 'Do you intend to explain to me just what happened to you?'

'Freak accident?' Tim asked.

'You just happened to walk into someone's fist a few dozen times without noticing?' she demanded.

'I think perhaps that is all the healing they can cope with at the moment,' Bridger said from the doorway. 'Perhaps they should rest and you can finish their medicals later on?'

The look she gave him told him exactly what she thought of that.

'Of course, you are the Doctor. What do I know? I'm only the Captain.' She gave him another look and the Captain made a tactical retreat.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The knock on his door came as something of a surprise to Bridger.

'Come in.'

Ford and Ben came in together. That was a rare enough occurrence to get his attention.

They told him. He listened. At one point he punched the wall. Then he listened some more.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'And exactly who were you trying to knock out?' Westphalen asked as she studied the x-ray.

'Lawrence Wolenczak.'

'You're arms aren't long enough.'

'Probably why the wall got in the way,' he conceded. He relayed some of what Ben and Jonathan had told him. Westphalen looked consideringly at the wall in her own office before she thought better of the idea.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'Lucas, we'd like to speak to you about a few things.'

Lucas looked up from the programme he was running on the computer in his room. Bridger and Westphalen together was never a good sign. He really didn't want to talk about this, especially not with them. 'I'm busy.'

'You can shut it down yourself or I can turn it off at the power, it's up to you,' Bridger offered. It was an effective threat.

Lucas sighed. 'What?' he asked with bad grace as he turned around. What had the others told them about that place?

'We have some concerns about some of the things that went on while you were at the prison complex,' Bridger told him.

'So?'

'So, we want some answers.'

'Like?'

'Like why there is no mention of Juvenile detention on your record?' Westphalen asked.

'What?'

'We have spoken before, at some length, about the appropriate use of your talents, Lucas Wolenczak,' Bridger reminded him.

Lucas looked from one to the other of them as if they had lost their minds. 'That was years ago?'

'When you were in detention or when you expunged your records?' Bridger asked.

'Both?' Lucas hazarded.

'And these murders you've been plotting?'

'Viruses,' Lucas corrected.

'Oh? Where?'

'In some of my father's companies.'

'Lucas…' she warned.

'If we were still in there on those dates the viruses would have activated and began destroying the companies,' he was fed up with lying about it. 'He cares about those companies, if he thought they were in danger he would have got me out of there.'

They heard the words he didn't say. He wouldn't get me out just because I was in danger.

'You think that was appropriate?'

'Yes.'

Bridger smiled. 'Just this once, I think I agree with you. But for the record, if you try anything like that in real life you will be collecting your pension before you leave this room. Understand? And now that we know about your little tricks with our electronic security find it more a challenge, Lucas. Any questions?'

Lucas hesitated. 'What's going to happen to Angelo?'

'He's being transferred to a surface prison as soon as we dock. I thought he'd been sent back to the bottom of the ocean but…'

Lucas tried to look as if he didn't care one way or the other.

Bridger stayed when Wesphalen left. He continued to stare at Lucas until he realised there was no way he was going to leave until he had his answer.

'I freaked them out so he could have his chance at escaping. That's all.'

'A real compliment when it comes from you.'

Lucas nodded absently. There was no need to tell the captain that he'd visited the other man in the brig. No need to tell him that the reason why Angelo was going to a surface prison was because Lucas offered him his choice of residence if he agreed to say that he didn't belong to him any more.

Bridger ruffled his hair as he walked out of the room.

'I know, Kiddo.'

Lucas looked up at him. His surprise only lasted for a moment.

Yes, the captain knew. And Bridger knew him too. He might have been the only one on the planet who did.

Lucas smiled slightly as he was left alone in his room. Sometimes one person was enough.

The End.

Thanks for reading. Comments welcome.

This is the last story I intend to post, so a general thanks to the people who have followed all the stories.

It's been fun.

Take care, Cadnobach.


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